Rapid destruction of plant material with concentrated nitric acid vapour (vapour phase oxidation)

Concentrated nitric acid vapour is used in a simple rapid method for the destruction of organic matter in plant tissue before analysis for trace elements. About 90% of the organic matter is destroyed by the nitric acid vapour within 5-6 min and destruction is then completed by the addition of perchloric acid. The method gives zero or low blank values and has comparable precision and accuracy to conventional acid digestion methods.