A microwave digestion method for the determination of copper, chromium, arsenic, boron and phosphorus in preserved woods is described. Samples were digested with nitric acid in pressure-relief type teflon PFA vessels by microwave heating in a commercial laboratory microwave oven. Fast, efficient and complete digestion was achieved within 29 min for 12 samples. The digestion time compared favourably with the 2 h required for conventional procedures. Furthermore the consumption of reagents was reduced significantly. The resulting solutions were analysed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, but the solutions are also suitable for atomic absorption spectrometry.

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