STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF ELEMENTS THAT FORM VOLATILE HYDRIDES ON THE DETERMINATION OF SELENIUM BY HYDRIDE GENERATION ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

A study has been made of possible interferences upon the determination of selenium by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HGAAS), due to the presence of other hydride forming elements such as As, Ge, Bi, Te, Sn and Sb, and to a volatile element such as Hg. The interfering effects of these cations were determined at several concentration levels using sodium borohydride as the reductant and a commercially available semi-automatic system for the generation and the flameless combustion of the hydrides. It has been demonstrated that the determination of selenium by HGAAS is relatively free from interferences with regard to other elements that form volatile hydrides, except for tin and bismuth that strongly interfere. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.