DETERMINATION OF MERCURY IN APPLES BY SPARK SOURCE MASS SPECTROMETRY

Mercury compounds have long been used in agriculture as effective agents for control of fungus diseases of plants. Owing to the continued use of these toxic systemic fungicides, sensitive analytical methods are required for determining traces of mercury in food commodities. Several methods have been applied to determination of mercury in biological material following sample ashing. These include spectrophotometric determination of mercury as the dithizonate (1, 2), determination of mercury with a mercury vapor meter (3-5), and determination of mercury using microelectrolysis (6), atomic absorption (7-9), and neutron activation analysis (10-12). Specific analysis for intact organic mercury compounds in food has also been accomplished by a combination of thin-layer and gas chromatographic methods (13, 14). © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.