Beryllium and its inorganic compounds – Determination of beryllium in urine by atomic absorption spectrometry
Biomonitoring Method – Translation of the German version from 2017
Roland Paul1 (Method development)Lygia Therese Budnik2 (External verification)
Thomas Göen3 (Head of the working group “Analyses in Biological Materials” of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
Andrea Hartwig4 (Chair of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
MAK Commission5
1 Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Division 4 – Hazardous Substances and Biological Agents, Unit 4.2 Health Surveillance, Biological Monitoring, Nöldnerstraße 40/42, 10317 Berlin, Germany
2 Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Marckmannstraße 129 b, Haus 3, 20539 Hamburg, Germany
3 Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Schillerstraße 25 and 29, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
4 Institute of Applied Biosciences, Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Adenauerring 20a, Building 50.41, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
5 Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Kennedyallee 40, 53175 Bonn, Germany
Abstract
The working group „Analyses in Biological Materials“ of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area verified the present biomonitoring method.
This procedure describes a method for the determination of beryllium in urine by means of atomic absorption spectrometry using the graphite furnace technique with a pyrolytically coated graphite tube and Zeeman background correction. The acidified samples are homogenised and injected into the graphite tube without further sample preparation using an autosampler. Magnesium nitrate is used as a matrix modifier. After drying, pyrolysis and atomisation, the absorbance is measured at 234.9 nm. The beryllium concentration is quantified using either a calibration curve (method I) or the standard addition method (method II).
The method was extensively validated and the reliability data were confirmed by independent laboratories, which have established and cross‐checked the whole procedure.
