Determination of heavy metals in Chinese herbal medicines by atomic fluorescence spectrometry

Recently heavy metal contamination in Chinese herbal medicines has become a severe problem.The experiment has developed the atom fluorescence spectrum to determinate the contents of heavy metals selenium and cadmium in Chinese traditional medicine Rhodiola,Potentilla.The detection limits of the Se and Cd are 0.022 2 ng/mL and 0.002 72 ng/mL respectively.The method was proved to be speedy,simple,convenient and accurate with high sensitivity.It has provided a fairly good method in determination the poisonous elements in Chinese traditional medicines.