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Comparison of a short method for Kjeldahl digestion using a trace of selenium as catalyst, with other methods
Author(s) -
Marshall Claire M.,
Walker Ann F.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740291106
Subject(s) - kjeldahl method , selenium , chemistry , mercury (programming language) , environmental chemistry , catalysis , digestion (alchemy) , nitrogen , chromatography , biochemistry , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language
A short digestion method for Kjeldahl nitrogen determination, using a trace of selenium as catalyst and described in this paper, gives results comparable to the American Association of Cereal Chemists (1976) method using mercuric oxide catalyst, for all compounds tested except for nicotinic acid. However, nicotinic acid is a minor component of food materials and it is not normally assayed by the Kjeldahl method. Selenium, like mercury, is known to be toxic 7 but mercury ranks more highly than selenium as an environmental problem.