SLURRY SAMPLING IN SERUM BLOOD FOR MERCURY DETERMINATION BY CV-AFS

PEDRO R. ARANDA; RAÚL A. GIL,; SUSANA MOYANO,; IRMA E. DE VITO,; LUIS D. MARTÍNEZ

Brasil, Salvador, Bahia

Congreso; TENTH RIO SYMPOSIUM ON ATOMIC SPECTROSCOPY; 2008

A slurry method was applied in the development of a sensitive and precise method for mercury determination in human serum blood simples without sample pre-treatment by cold vapor generation coupled to atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CV-AFS). All variables related to the slurry formation were studied as well as those variables related with the performance with the CV, such as, the hydrochloric concentration and the tin(II) chloride concentration. Calibration within the range 0.1-10 µg L-1 Hg was performed with the standard addition method, and compared with an external calibration. Additionally, the reliability of the results obtained was evaluated by analyzing mercury in the same samples, but submitted to microwave-assisted digestion method. The limit of detection was calculated as 25 ng L-1 and the relative standard deviation was 3.9 % at levels around of 0.4 µg L-1 Hg.