Nondestructive determination of nitrogen in biological and other materials by photon activation analysis

A procedure has been developed for assaying nitrogen in biological materials by means of instrumental photon activation analysis (IPAA). The determination has been based on counting of the non-specific 511 keV annihilation gamma rays of 13N, product of the photonuclear reaction 14N(γ, n)13N and a pure positron emitter. IPAA allowed determination of nitrogen down to 1 wt.%. in selected biological reference standards - NIST RM 8433 Corn Bran, 1547 Peach Leaves, 8414 Bovine Muscle, and 1577b Bovine Liver. The optimized procedure was applied also to assaying nitrogen in pulverized nanodiamond intended for medical purposes