Determination of selenoamino acids by high-performance liquid chromatography-hydraulic high pressure nebulization-atomic fluorescence spectrometry

Abstract

For the analysis of the most important selenoamino acids [selenomethionine (SeMet), selenoethionine (SeEt) and selenocystine (SeCys)] a HPLC-hydraulic high pressure nebulization (HHPN)-AFS system was assembled. The separation was accomplished on a C ₁₈ column with the help of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and methanol in water as eluent. The effects of methanol and TFA concentrations on the retention time were investigated. The argon and hydrogen gas flow rate on the AFS signal intensity was optimized. The detection limit and the retention time for SeCys, SeMet and SeEt were 50, 42 and 71 ng ml ^–1 and 2.1, 3.9 and 6.9 min, respectively.