[Determination of trace mercury in different sorts of Chinese herbs by atomic fluorescence spectrometry with microwave digestion].

A method for the determination of trace mercury in different sorts of Chinese herbs using hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry under different microwave digestion conditions was developed. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the linear equation was I(F) = 809.1 x -3.327 5, the correlation coefficient was 0.999 998,and the linear range for mercury was 0-80 ng x mL(-1). The detection limit of mercury was 0.014 ng x mL(-1) (n = 11) and the relative standard deviation was 2.03%. The recoveries for these samples were 96.8%-102.80% (n = 6) while the detection limit of the method was 1.17 ng x g(-1). The method's accuracy and precision for different sorts of Chinese herbs using the standard reference standard substance of rice (GBW08508), poplar leaf (GBW07601), and mytilus edulis (GBW08571) was checked, and the results were found to be basically consistent with the reference values. This method has been proved to be sensitive, simple and rapid with satisfactory results.