title: Atomic absorption spectrophotometric determination of mercury in mercury-containing drugs: collaborative study.
abstract: An atomic absorption spectrophotometric (AAS) method applicable to a wide variety of mercury-containing drugs has been developed and subjected to a collaborative study. Samples were digested with a water-HCl-HNO3 (4 + 3 + 1) mixture, and the mercury was determined in solution by AAS. High levels of mercury were measured with a conventional air-acetylene flame, whereas low levels were measured by the flameless technique. Each of 7 collaborators received duplicate synthetic samples of a tincture, an ophthalmic solution, and an antiseptic solution, and duplicate commercial samples of an ointment and an injectable. The overall mean value found by collaborators for mercury in these samples was 100.13%. The corresponding overall repeatability SD (CV, %) and reproducibility SD (CV, %) values were 2.18 (2.18) and 3.38 (3.38), respectively. The proposed AAS method has been adopted official first action.
mesh_terms: D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D009824:Ointments / Q000032:analysis; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions / Q000032:analysis; D012996:Solutions / Q000032:analysis; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D009824:Ointments; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions; D012996:Solutions; D008628:Mercury