Multielement Determination in Biological Materials by Differential Pulse Voltammetry

A simple and reliable multielement approach for the determination of up to eight elements in a single biological sample digest at major, minor, trace, and/or ultratrace levels has been developed. The method employs a wide range of voltammetric techniques such as polarography, cathodic stripping, anodic stripping, and adsorption voltammetry in their differential pulse mode together with some chemical manipulations for sequential simultaneous determination of selenium, cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, and cobalt in the same solution. Arsenic can also be determined under favorable conditions. The determination of the eight elements in the digested samples takes about 3 h or approximately 25 min for each element per sample. The precision and accuracy, as demonstrated by the use of standard reference materials, are excellent.