Feasibility of Using AAS for the Characterization of a Tuna Fish Candidate Reference Material for Total Hg and Methyl-Hg Measurement

This work describes the evaluation of several parameters for preparing a tuna fish candidate reference material (RM) in order to measure its total Hg and methyl-Hg mass fractions by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS) and solid sampling graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (SS-GF AAS). Best results were acquired after extraction with toluene and L-cysteine for 15 min at 80 °C. The parameters investigated were stability of chemical composition during production, homogeneity and analyte segregation. No analyte segregation was observed and the material was shown to be s...