Determination of mercury in chinese medicinal pills by cold vapour atomic-absorption spectrometry

Abstract

Sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide were used for the digestion of Chinese medicinal pills. The mercury contents of the pills were determined by cold-vapour atomic-absorption spectrometry with a silanised silica cell. A number of popular Chinese medicinal pills were analysed using the proposed method. Experiments were performed to determine the amounts of mercury extracted by 0.1 M hydrochloric acid from three types of pills.