Microdetermination of calcium and magnesium in biological materials.

The use of the dye calcon (1-(2 hydroxy-1-naphthylazo)-2-naphthol-4 sulphonic acid) for the estimation of calcium using E.D.T.A. and a commercial photoelectric titrimeter is described. The interfering effects of magnesium and phosphate have been overcome. The method has been extended to estimations on biological materials. Results on 55 sera show that the E.D.T.A./calcon method gave slightly lower results (-0.15 mg./100 ml. +/- 0.029) than the oxalate precipitation method. Magnesium may also be estimated by incorporating the use of Eriochrome black T.