Determination of arsenic, selenium and cadmium in marine biological tissue samples using a stabilised temperature platform furnace and comparing deuterium arc with Zeeman-effect background correction atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

Arsenic, selenium and cadmium are determined in three marine biological tissue samples from an inter-calibration exercise and NBS Standard Reference Material oyster tissue using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Deuterium arc background correction is plagued by severe spectral interferences, which cause substantial signal distortion. Highly time-resolved signal display is a useful diagnostic tool for this type of interference. Zeeman-effect background correction appears to work satisfactorily for the routine determination of these elements in marine biological tissue samples. Calibration against acid standard solutions can be used for selenium and cadmium, when stabilised temperature platform furnace conditions are applied, but not for arsenic. Agreement with accepted average values of the inter-calibration exercise is generally good. Standard reference materials are only useful in part for methods development because their analytical behaviour is sometimes different from that of the samples investigated.