Species-selective determination of selenium compounds in biological materials (technical report)

There is substantial evidence of the complexity of selenium speciation in l iving organisms and of the importance of the selective determination of the particular species of this element in order to understand its metabolism a nd biological significance in clinical chemistry, biology, toxicology, and nutrition. The state-of-the-art of analytical techniques available for this purpose is critically evaluated with particular emphasis on the element-se lective detection and identification of the detected selenium compounds. Wh ereas there are a number of techniques available that an able to detect var ious selenium species in living organisms selectively, few techniques exist that are able to identify and to characterize the species detected.