Determination of selenium in bovine liver by Zeeman-effect atomic absorption spectrometry using a palladium-copper chemical modifier

Abstract

A simple method for the determination of biological selenium is described using Zeeman-effect graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with calibration against aqueous standards. Data are presented on the recovery of selenium from NIST SRM Bovine Liver 1577a. A microwave-digestion method using nitric acid was applied to small samples. A chemical modifier system was employed that caused biological selenium to behave as inorganic selenium standards would with respect to appearance time and peak shape. This system consisted of a solution containing 600 mg l^–1 of palladium nitrate and 500 mg l^–1 of copper nitrate, used as the mixed modifier, and 0.1% Triton X-100 added to standards and samples. The over-all average selenium recovery from 0.005–0.650-g samples of the liver standard reference material was 98.5 ± 7.2%(n= 38) by direct calibration and 98.3 ± 6.3 (n= 16) by standard additions calibration using the proposed method.