Simultaneous determination of total arsenic and total selenium in Chinese medicinal herbs by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry in tartaric acid medium

By HG-AFS, a new method was proposed for simultaneous determination of total arsenic and total selenium existed in the Chinese medicinal herbs in tartaric acid medium. The effects of analytical conditions and coexisting ions on the fluorescence signal intensity of analytes were investigated. The proposed method was provided with linear response ranges above 22 μg l−1 for As and 44 μg l−1 for Se, and the detection limits of 0.13 and 0.12 μg l−1 were obtained for As and Se respectively. The recoveries of 93.8-96.1% for As and 95.3-99.1% for Se, and the precision of 1.2-3.8% and 2.4-5.3% (R.S.D., n = 8) respectively, were obtained via simultaneous determined four samples of Chinese medicinal herbs and three certified botanic reference materials successfully. The proposed method has the advantages of simple operation, high sensitivity and high efficiency.