Simultaneous determination of copper,manganese, zinc and sodium in plant materials by neutron activation analysis

Neutron activation analysis has been used for the simultaneous determination of Cu, Mn, Zn and Na in plant materials. The heterocyclic dye PAN has been applied as a chelating agent to achieve the group chemical separation of Mn, Cu, Ni and Zn. Various factors which affect the formation and extraction of the PAN-metal chelates have been studied and optimized, using suitable aqueous solutions to selectively strip these elements from the organic phase. This procedure has been applied to the determination of these elements in ‘Bowen’s Kale’ and U.S. NBS Citrus-leaves and Tomatoleaves samples.