The interaction of chemicals with the container materials during heating for sterilisation was investigated, storing the components of parenteral nutrition solutions individually in sealed glass ampoules and in contact with a rubber stopper, and heating the system at 121 degrees C for 30 min. Subsequently, the aluminium content of the solutions was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The assay was also carried out with acids, alkalis and some complexing agents for Al. The containers were decomposed and also assayed for aluminium. 30 different commercial solutions for parenteral nutrition, stored either in glass or in plastic containers, were assayed measuring the aluminium present in the solutions and in the container materials. The results of all investigated container materials revealed an aluminium content of 1.57% Al in glass, 0.05% in plastic and 4.54% in rubber. The sterilisation procedure showed that even pure water was able to extract Al from glass and rubber, 22.5 +/- 13.3 microg/L and 79.4 +/- 22.7 microg/L respectively, while from plastic the aluminium leached was insignificant. The Al released from glass ampoules laid between 20 microg/L for leucine, ornithine and lysine solutions and 1500 microg/L for solutions of basic phosphates and bicarbonate; from rubber stoppers it reached levels over 500 microg/L for cysteine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and cystine solutions. Ion-exchange properties and influence of pH can explain the interaction of glass with some chemicals (salts, acids and alkalis), but only an affinity for aluminium could explain the action of some amino acids and other chemicals, as albumin and heparin, on glass and rubber, considering the aluminium release. Experiments with complexing agents for Al allowed to conclude that the higher the stability constant of the complex, the higher the Al release from the container material.