A rapid method for the determination of mercury in urine

Abstract

A rapid and sensitive method for the determination of mercury in urine is described. It is based upon wet digestion of 1-ml samples of urine by potassium permanganatesulphuric acid a t room temperature overnight, reduction of mercury(I1) to metallic mercury by tin(II), evaporation of mercury vapour from the solution by an air current a t room temperature and determination of mercury by cold-vapour atomic-absorption measurement a t 253.7nm. Mercury determination on digested samples can be carried out a t the speed of about 1 sample minute-l. The amounts of chemicals and of glassware needed are much less than those required for the dithizone method. Detection limit is 2 ng of mercury in 1 ml of urine. The proposed method has been compared with dithizone analysis in a series of urine samples with fairly good results.Chemical interference from various substances is discussed. 21, 475.

Mercury exposure of different origins among dentists and dental nurses.

“…The mercury content of the urine samples was analyzed by a method earlier developed by Lindstedt (19) and Skare (20). The method is based upon a wet digestion technique with acid perrnanganate solution followed by a two-stage reduction of released bivalent mercury ions to elemental mercury with hydroxylammonium chloride and bivalent tin ions .…”

The use of nafion dryer tubes for moisture removal in flow injection chemical vapor generation atomic absorption spectrometry

“…Typically, the atomizer is a heated T-shaped quartz cell aligned in the optical light path. Several workers have noted problems such as loss of sensitivity and even blockage of transfer lines due to excessive moisture transported to the atom cell or lodged in the transfer line [1][2][3]. Several methods have been used to prevent carryover of moisture from the gas-liquid separator into the atom cell, most of which involve a desiccant.…”

Application of Cold Vapor Differential Pulse Voltammetric Method for Determination of Mercury in Urine Samples

“…The digestion procedures have been used for determination of total mercury in urine samples by CV AAS (2)(3)(4), where chemical decomposition of the organic mercury compounds to inorganic Hg 2/ is complete should be adequate for determination of mercury by the CV voltammetric method. Another procedure, where the decomposition of volatilized compounds proceeds in a quartz tube (5) cannot be applied for voltammetric determination.…”

“…The common method for mercury determination in urine is cold vapor (CV) atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Voltammetric methods, particularly stripping analysis, are the most widely used competition for AAS as far as trace metal determination is concerned (6).…”