The mercury content of some laboratory chemicals and materials determined by neutron activation analysis

An activation method was used to determine the mercury content of typical laboratory reagents and materials, in particular, filter paper and substances used in the analysis for mercury. Typical values for filtering materials are in the tens of nanogram range but in some types they can be considerably higher. Results for some other reagents also show that a thorough checking for background levels of substances used in analysis is essential. A minor modification of the volatilization method is also described for the analysis of substances rich in sulfur or evolving large quantities of halogen acid.