Cathodic stripping voltammetry of nanogram amounts of selenium in biological material.

A method is described to determine selenium in biological material, based on cathodic stripping voltammetry. Following wet ashing, the selenium was extracted into benzene as the 3',4'-diaminophenylpiazselenol. The selenium was subsequently back-extracted into dilute acid for analysis. Analyses of NBS Bovine Liver demonstrated that the method was capable of recovering 96+/-9% of the selenium present. The detection limit and working range were 3 ng/g and 0-10,000 ng/g, respectively. The method was also applied to the determination of selenium in rapeseed oils and seed.