Determination of lead in blood by chelation with ammonium pyrrolidine dithio-carbamate followed by tungsten-coil atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

An inexpensive, bench-top blood Pb analyzer has been developed. The system is based on tungsten-coil atomic absorption spectrometry. Pb atomization occurs on W-coils extracted from commercially available slide projector bulbs. The system has minimal power requirements: 120 ACV and 15 A. A small, computer-controlled CCD spectrometer is used as the detector. A Pb hollow cathode lamp is used as the source. Blood Pb is chelated with ammonium pyrrolidine dithio-carbamate and extracted into methyl iso-butyl ketone (4-methyl 2-pentanone). Twenty-microliter volumes of the organic phase are deposited on the W-coil, dried at 1.4 A, charred at 2.3 A and atomized at 6.0 A. Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry is used as a comparison for W-coil results. Levels 1–4 of a NIST standard reference material 955b ‘lead in bovine blood’ are used to test accuracy and precision. The analytical figures of merit for the system are: 12-pg instrument detection limit, 24-pg blood detection limit and a characteristic mass of 28 pg.