ICEH Papers

SIMPLE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF TRACES OF SELENIUM IN ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES


Krishnaiah, L., K. Suresh Kumar, K. Suvardhan, P. Chiranjeevi “Simple Spectrophotometric Determination Of Traces Of Selenium In Environmental Samples” in Martin J. Bunch, V. Madha Suresh and T. Vasantha Kumaran, eds., Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment and Health, Chennai, India, 15-17 December, 2003. Chennai: Department of Geography, University of Madras and Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. Pages 217 – 225.


Abstract:

A rapid, highly sensitive and selective spectrophotometric method for the determination of traces of selenium(IV) are studied. The methods are based on either the oxidation of 2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine hydrochloride (2,4-DNPH) by selenium in hydrochloric acid medium and coupling with N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine dihydrochloride(NEDA) to give pink colored product or the oxidation of 4-aminoresorcinol hydrochloride (4-ARCH) by selenium in sulphuric acid medium and coupling with 4-aminoresorcinol hydrochloried to yield a orange red colored product. The pink colored product with lmax 520 nm is stable for 24 h and the orange red colored product with l max 495 nm for one week. Beer’s law is obeyed for selenium in the concentration range 0.03 - 3.5 µg ml-1 (pink color product) and 0.07-2.5 µg ml-1 (orange red color product), respectively. The optimum reaction conditions and other important analytical parameters are reported. Interference due to various cations and anions have been investigated. The proposed method has been applied to the analysis of polluted water, natural water, plant material, soil samples and synthetic mixture. The results of analysis are compared with the reported method.

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