| Abstract: | A systematic study of the biomethylation of selenium and the determination of the methylated species indicates preliminarily that selenium is susceptible to natural biomethylation under certain environmental conditions. Detectable levels of methylated selenium species, including dimethyl selenide [(CH3)2Se], dimethyl diselenide [(CH3)2Se2] and dimethylselenone [(CH3)2SeO2] have been detected by gas chromatography – graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry (GC – GF AA) from a variety of environmental samples. Findings of naturally methylated selenium species from both soil samples and related air samples suggest that there may exist a localized cycle of selenium between ground soil and the ambient air. Factors that influence the sensitivity and accuracy for the determination of alkyl selenide compounds by GC – GF AA have also been investigated. Flashlike injection mode and addition of about 10% of hydrogen gas to the argon carrier gas provide for highly sensitive detection. Reproducible determination can be obtained with a precision of about 6% and the detection limits are 0.3 ng Se m?3. |
