Radiochemical determination of mercury, arsenic, cadmium, zinc and copper in biological materials

Abstract

Extraction procedure for mercury, arsenic, cadmium, copper and zinc in biological materials is proposed. Mercury and copper are extracted with dithizone followed by the separation of mercury with tri-octyl-amine (TOA). Arsenic, cadmium and zinc are extracted as diethyldithiocarbamates. The procedure is applied for the analysis of some reference materials and autopsy human samples of kidneys, liver, heart, spleen and hair.