The new MetalFree centrifuge tubes, now available in the UK from Alpha Laboratories, are intended for the storage, high-speed centrifugation and analysis of samples requiring ultra-low trace metal contents.
They are specially manufactured to ensure common trace metals are below an ICP-MS detection level of one part per billion. Most other centrifuge tubes on the market are only certified below one part per million.
Metal leaching from conventional plastic consumables is a recognised concern among testing laboratories, established as a cause of many experimental anomalies. Even glassware can emit metal, in the presence of acids such as hydrochloric, contaminating samples and skewing results.
These MetalFree tubes are therefore perfect for applications that can be affected by metal contaminants, and are an ever-growing necessity within, for example, forensics, water analysis and food safety. The centrifuge tubes are also ideal within clinical settings and for scientific discovery, being recommended for use in ICP-MS analysis, enzyme assisted extractions/separations and X-ray crystallography, where even trace metal presence interferes with results.
The 15 mL or 50 mL tubes are analysed for 21 different metals including calcium, magnesium, zinc, vanadium, cobalt, lithium, cadmium, iron, manganese, copper, sodium, chromium, lead, mercury, aluminium, silicon, nickel, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and arsenic.