Determination of cobalt in biological samples by radiochemical neutron activation analysis employing reverse-phase...

We report the final part of our "on-line yield" pilot program in this article. This last part deals with aspects of accuracy and precision of the determination of cobalt in biological materials by RNAA with on-line yield determination. To obtain an insight into the accuracy of the technique, certified reference materials were analyzed, and for selected materials, results obtained by INAA and RNAA of identical samples have been compared. It shows that the mineralization in our RNAA scheme may be a sample-related source of systematic errors that is not related to the presence or absence of HF. Finally, we present some critical notes on pros and cons of the practice of on-line yield concept and some ideas for further research.