Determination of Selenium in Marine Organisms Using Hydride Generation and Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

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Abstract
The measurement of Se concentrations in marine organisms is described. After decomposition of samples with nitric, perchloric and sulfuric acids, Se was isolated by coprecipitation with lanthanum hydroxide. Se was subsequently reduced to hydrogen selenide by sodium tetrahydroborate solution, trapped in a potassium iodide-iodine solution and determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy. The minimum Se concentration detectable using this method is 0.01 .mu.g/g starting with 1 g of sample. At the 0.8 .mu.g/g level Se was determined with a coefficient of variation of 6%. Typical results obtained for macroalgae, fish and mollusks are given.