A Simplified Method Using a Single N,N,N′,N′-Tetraoctyl Diglycolamide Resin Column for the Purification of Sr, Nd and Hf in Geological Materials and the Determination of Their Isotopic Ratios by Multi-collector Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A simplified method using a single column of N,N,N′,N′-tetraoctyl diglycolamide (TODGA) resin is developed for the separation of Sr, Nd and Hf with matrix and interference elements from geological samples, and for subsequent determination of their isotopic ratios by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). The analytes of Sr, Nd and Hf are absorbed by the TODGA resin and eluted with 6 mol/L HNO₃, 1.2 mol/L HCl and 1 mol/L HNO₃–1.6 mol/L HF, respectively. The separation procedure is validated by the certified reference materials (CRMs) of BHVO-2, BCR-2 and AGV-2 with analyte recovery greater than 97%. The ratios are measured for ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd and ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf and the mean values (2σ) are 0.703455 (16), 0.512977 (12) and 0.283108 (8) for BHVO-2, 0.705008 (18), 0.512633 (10) and 0.282878 (4) for BCR-2, and 0.703989 (20), 0.512791 (8) and 0.282982 (8) for AGV-2, which are consistent with the certified values.