APPLICATION OF VACUUM-ULTRAVIOLET ICP ATO MIC-EMISSION SPECTROMETRY FOR TESTS OF CARRAGEENAN

Vacuum-ultraviolet inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrom etry (ICP) was applied for tests of carrageenan, and 21 products were analyzed. Sulfate contents in carrageenan were obtained from the sulfu r concentrations determined by the ICP. The sulfate contents were in g ood agreement with those obtained by conventional gravimetry. The rati os of the total quantity of positive charge on Na, K, Mg, and Ca to th at of negative charge on sulfate group were calculated from the respec tive element concentrations. The ratios were about 1 in many carrageen an products as well as carrageenan reagents and sodium dextransulfate reagents, while seven carrageenan products gave values about 1.5. Ther efore, if metal salts were added to a carrageenan product, it would be difficult to detect the addition based only on this ratio. Some produ cts contained zinc, manganese, and iron in the amounts of 20, 20 and 2 00 mug/g, respectively.