Determination of trace amounts of selenium in poultry feedstuffs by gas chromatography

In view of the importance of establishing reliable selenium concentration levels in different kinds of feedstuffs, the purpose of this work was to develop optimum experimental conditions for the isolation and GC determination of selenium as its chelate with 4-nitro-1,2-diaminobenzene. It was shown that ignition of the sample in an oxygen flask followed by reduction of Se(VI) to Se(IV) and the formation of 5-nitro-2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole chelate in HCl medium is a relatively rapid procedure giving a low blank value and allowing the determination of selenium in commercial feedstuffs and similar biological samples. The method was validated by the analysis of suitable certified or standard reference materials.