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G K Tam

Publications and source records attributed to G K Tam.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Dry ashing, hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometric determination of arsenic and selenium in foods.

A dry ashing, flameless atomic absorption spectrometric method was evaluated to determine arsenic and selenium in foods. Samples were dry-ashed with Mg(NO3)2-MgO and dissolved in HCl. Selenate was reduced to selenite by boiling in 4N HCl. Selenate was reduced to selenite by boiling in 4N HCl, and arsenate to arsenite by treatment with KI. Hydrides of arsenic and selenium were generated by the addition of NaBH4 and were swept by nitrogen and hydrogen into a thermally heated silicate tube furnace. The detection limit was about 5 ppb for each element based on a 10 g sample. Analytical results obtained for several samples of NBS reference materials agreed with the certified values. The procedure was evaluated by another laboratory and results were satisfactory.

Arsenic↗

Whole-body retention, excretion and metabolism of [74As]arsenic acid in the hamster.

In order to assess the whole-body retention, excretion and metabolism of inorganic arsenic, male and female hamsters were given either a single oral or i.v. dose of 74As (congruent to 33' microCi/hamster; 0.01 micrograms arsenic/hamster) as arsenic acid. 74As radioactivity was measured in the whole body, urine and feces for up to 35 days. 24-h samples of urine were analyzed for arsenic metabolites. For the i.v. dosed hamsters, the half-period of elimination for the first component (65% of the dose) was 0.40 days; the second component (35% of the dose) had a half-period of 4.5 days. For the orally dosed hamsters, the half-period of elimination for the first component (98% of the dose) was 0.29 days; the second component (2% of the dose) had a half-period of 3.8 days. Differences in the percent of dose excreted between oral and i.v. dosed hamsters appeared to be due to the increased fecal excretion of arsenic (70%) in the orally dosed hamsters as compared to the i.v.v dosed hamsters (6%). No statistically significant differences between the i.v. and oral treatments were found in the half-periods of elimination for either of the 2 components. Analysis of the urine for metabolites revealed arsenic was present as dimethylarsinic acid and inorganic arsenic.

Animals↗

Determination of arsenic in urine and feces by dry ashing, atomic absorption spectrometry.

A dry ashing flameless atomic absorption procedure was used to determine fish-arsenic in human urine and feces. Samples were dry ashed with Mg(NO3)2--MgO and dissolved in 6N HCl. Arsine was generated by the addition of NaBH4 and swept into a thermally heated silica tube furnace. Recoveries of several arsenic compounds added to samples ranged from 85 to 117%. The detection limit was about 3 ppb as for 10 g sample. Effects of the presence of common cations, anions and acids were studied.

Animals↗

Recovery studies of selenium using dry ashing procedure with ashing aid.

A previously reported dry ashing procedure for the decomposition of marine samples prior to arsenic determination is demonstrated to be equally applicable to the analysis of selenium. Quantitative recovery of selenium as inorganic or organic compounds in a variety of plants and animal tissues is demonstrated using 75Se tracer and X-ray fluorescence techniques. The dry ashing procedure is simpler than the official AOAC method, which uses a mixture of H2SO4, HNO3 and HC10(4).

Animals↗