Certification of total arsenic in blood and urine standard reference materials by radiochemical neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Abstract

A newly developed procedure for determination of arsenic by radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) was used to measure arsenic at four levels in SRM 955c Toxic Elements in Caprine Blood and at two levels in SRM 2668 Toxic Elements in Frozen Human Urine for the purpose of providing mass concentration values for certification. Samples were freeze-dried prior to analysis followed by neutron irradiation for 3 h at a fluence rate of 1×1014cm−2s−1. After sample dissolution in perchloric and nitric acids, arsenic was separated from the matrix by extraction into zinc diethyldithiocarbamate in chloroform, and 76As quantified by gamma-ray spectroscopy. Differences in chemical yield and counting geometry between samples and standards were monitored by measuring the count rate of a 77As tracer added before sample dissolution. RNAA results were combined with inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) values from NIST and collaborating laboratories to provide certified values of (10.81 ± 0.54) μg/kg and (213.1 ± 0.73) μg/kg for SRM 2668 Levels I and II, and certified values of (21.66 ± 0.73) μg/kg, (52.7 ± 1.1) μg/kg, and (78.8 ± 4.9) μg/kg for SRM 955c Levels 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Because of discrepancies between values obtained by different methods for SRM 955c Level 1, an information value of < 5 μg/kg was assigned for this material.

Blood arsenic levels and the risk of familial breast cancer in Poland

“…These results are far away from values reported by our analytical laboratory and other authors. 25 Analysis conducted with neutron activation analysis 26 clearly identified that concentration of arsenic is nearly seven-fold lower compared to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (0.28 AE 0.06 μg/L) which closely agrees with our results.…”

Contemporary Issues in Exposure Assessment Using Biomonitoring

“…In the past few decades, NIST, in collaboration with leading international laboratories, has developed SRMs in urine, blood, or milk for a range of chemical classes including both inorganic and organic chemicals [105, 106•, 107, 108]. For these SRMs, certified values are typically based on the combination of results from two or more independent methods.…”

The production of no carrier added arsenic radioisotopes in nuclear reactors

“…By contrast, 71 As, 72 As, and 76 As, the other radionuclides of relatively short half-life, have no comparative advantages or drawbacks; their gamma energies and the respective emission probabilities are reasonably high. They can be easily produced from charged particlereactions: protons on germanium or, in the case of 71 As and 72 As, alpha particles on gallium [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The development of a potential 72 Se/ 72 As generator has been suggested [19] by the production of 72 Se from charged particle reactions, using germanium, bromine, or arsenic targets.…”

“…Neutron capture on germanium has been used for the production of 77 As, daughter of the 77m Ge/ 77 Ge isomeric pair [21][22][23]. Because of the fairly good nuclear constants for its production (isotopic abundance, 7.73 ± 0.12% [18]; total cross-section, 0.14 ± 0.02 b; total resonance integral, 1.8 ± 0.4 b [20]) 77 As is probably the only short-lived arsenic tracer that can be obtained in nuclear reactors with reasonably good activities.…”