rod (13elgium) (Rcccivctl October rst, x+5) Wrss.~EnarAlzIcetaZ.1~" hxve determined mercury in biological materials by direct y-spectromctry. with a sensitivity of 0.x p.p.m. The same nn2tliocl was applied by CHOI ANI.) TUCK:' to study the solubility of mercury; SJijsrIzr\Nl+ further improved the sensitivity down to 0.5 p.p.b. by introducing a chemical separation, ,i.e. distillation as mercuric chloride and electrolytic deposition on a gold foil.
Many cliffcrcnt methods of chemical separation for mercury have been applied, e.g. precipitation as sulfide, periodatcS~fl, chloricle7, bichromateH, precipitation by organic rcagents7*". extraction by organic solvents7.i"tir, electrolytic deposition4*"~1" and stcani distillation of the metal 1:). However, owing to the chemical properties of the sample, these separations do not always give satisfaction, and they are often tedious as scvcral steps must 1x2 combined in order to obtain a satisfying radiochcmical purity.
As appears from Bock-WcrthmanniJ-16, the determination of mercury in various samples has been studied by many authors, but up to now no paper has appeared dealing with the cletermination of mercury in bismuth.
In the present work mercury was determined in high purity bismuth using a chemical separation based on the deposition of mercury on coarse metallic copper powder, followed by a distillation of metallic mercury and amalgamation on a silver foil. This method was found to be highly satisfactory because of the high radiochcmical purity of the produced mercury, the high chemical yield which can be determined with good accuracy and the short time required.
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