Direct determination and speciation of mercury compounds in environmental and biological samples by carbon bed atomic absorption spectroscopy
A method was developed for the direct determination of mercury in water and biological samples using a unique carbon bed atomizer for atomic absorption spectroscopy. The method avoided sources of error such as loss of volatile mercury during sample digestion and contamination of samples through added reagents by eliminating sample pretreatment steps. The design of the atomizer allowed use of the 184.9 nm mercury resonance line in the vacuum ultraviolet region, which increased sensitivity over the commonly used spin-forbidden 253.7 nm line. The carbon bed atomizer method was applied to a study of mercury concentrations in water, hair, sweat, urine, blood, breath and saliva samples from a non-occupationally exposed population. Data were collected on the average concentration, the range and distribution of mercury in the samples. Data were also collected illustrating individual variations in mercury concentrations with time. Concentrations of mercury found were significantly higher than values reported in the literature for a ''normal'' population. This is attributed to the increased accuracy gained by eliminating pretreatment steps and increasing atomization efficiency. Absorption traces were obtained for various solutions of pure and complexed mercury compounds. Absorption traces of biological fluids were also obtained. Differences were observed in the absorption-temperatures traces of various compounds. The utility of this technique for studying complexation was demonstrated.
- OSTI ID:
- 6676977
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
BLOOD
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
HAIR
MERCURY
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
SALIVA
SWEAT
URINE
WATER
ANIMAL TISSUES
ATOMIZATION
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
CARBON
MERCURY COMPOUNDS
QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
TRACE AMOUNTS
BIOLOGICAL WASTES
BODY
BODY FLUIDS
ELEMENTS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MATERIALS
METALS
NONMETALS
ORGANS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SKIN
SPECTROSCOPY
TISSUES
WASTES
400104* - Spectral Procedures- (-1987)