Comparison of the suitability of various atomic spectroscopic techniques for the determination of selenium in human whole blood

A method was developed for the determination of selenium in human blood by ICP-MS, The procedure involves sample dilution with Triton X-100 and HNO3 (1 ml of whole blood + 1 ml of 1% Triton X-100 + 1.5 ml of 0.14 mol 1(-1) HNO3 + 0.2 ml of 5 mg 1(-1) In solution + water to 10 ml) and determination using the Se-77 line, Standard samples mere modified with a solution containing NaCl, Fe, Ca, Br, S, and K. No corrections were made for interferences from polyatomic ions, The applicability of the ICP-MS, ICP-OES, ETAAS and HGAAS techniques to the determination of Se in human blood was compared, Limits of detection (3s) of these methods were 6, 76, 14 and 8 mu g 1(-1) Se, respectively. The ICP-MS method mas found to be well suited to routine analysis.