Difference between ICP-OES and ICP-MS

by Rohit T. Veeprho Laboratories Pvt.Ltd

Background:

Elemental impurities affect drug effectiveness, it doesn’t have any therapeutic benefit but has a toxic effect on the patients. Elemental impurities may be present in drug products due to different sources such as catalysts, raw materials, excipients, equipment, or packing materials. As per recent necessities, elemental impurities guidance of ICH Q3D, USP Chapters <232>, made effective shifting the old requirements for heavy metals. The limits are much lower for most toxic metals. The earlier heavy metal method was not specific and accurate for each one hence new testing procedure applied by using sophisticated, costly, and sensitive technology such as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) or inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Difference between ICP-OES and ICP-MS:

ICP-OES and ICP-MS are vital analytical techniques in determination of trace elements analysis from drug substances and drug products. This article describes the difference between ICP-OES and ICP-MS.

Easy Evaluation

	ICP-OES	ICP-MS
Cost	Cost of ICP-OES is less than ICP-MS but operation cost is high due to higher consumption of argon gas. Asper ICP-OES, photons have no mass, no memory effects hence it’s simple technique for use hence it requires less maintenance.	ICP-MS is more expensive because of its handling cost and it requires a cleanroom. It requires extra maintenance due to its spare parts. Argon gas consumption is similar.
Consumables	The main consumable supplies in ICP-OES are in the plasma torch and in the sample introduction area.	Consumables are placed inside the mass spectrometer which is, sampler and skimmer cones and another main consumable is the detector.

For more information visit https://veeprho.com/blog/difference-between-icp-oes-and-icp-ms/