[Investigation on dissolution of cinnabar in vitro].

OBJECTIVE

To study effects of different chemical factors in gastrointestinal tract, i.e. pH, protein, amino acid, ionic strength, Na2S, on the dissolution of cinnabar.

METHOD: The content of total mercury in various dissolution of cinnabar were analyzed by UV/VIS Spectrophotometer. The particle distributions in dissolution of cinnabar were measured by Laser Particle Size Analyzer. The constituents of dissoluble substance of cinnabar in presence of Na2S were determined using ESI-MS.

RESULT: The solubility of cinnabar could be increased significantly in the presence of Na2S/So, and strong acidic pH, respectively. While the influence of thiol amino acid on promoting dissolution remains relatively low. Cinnabar didnt dissolve mainly in the form of nanoparticle.

CONCLUSION

We postulated that cinnabar could be dissolved in various forms of mercury complexes containing sulphur.