Blood lead and cadmium determinations in soluene-350 (T.M.) digests

The use of Soluene-350 is investigated for the solubilisation of bovine blood prior to analysis for lead and cadmium by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The method is compared to acid digestion techniques and the advantages over these are discussed. The recovery of added lead and cadmium is greatly improved and because of the reduced handling and preparation of the blood, optimum values are obtained. The detection limit for this method is 0.002 ppm Pb and 0.001 ppm Cd and the relative standard deviations are 16 percent for lead and 19 percent for cadmium. The method combines the specificity and simplicity of atomic absorption analysis with the greatly increased sensitivity of the heated graphite tube atomiser to provide a simple and accurate method for blood lead and cadmium determination.