Determination of trace levels of selenium in natural water, agriculture soil and food samples by vortex assisted liquid-liquid microextraction method: Multivariate techniques

•Vortex assisted based liquid-liquid microextraction (VA-LLME) method was developed for preconcentration of selenium.•The developed VA-LLME method was used first time for selenium determination in water, agricultural soil and food samples.•It has an excellent analytical figure of merits such as high EF, low LOD, LOQ and RSD.•Multivariate techniques were used for screening and optimization of the extraction parameters. A green vortex assisted based liquid-liquid microextraction (VA-LLME) method was developed for preconcentration of selenium. Ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC) was used to form a hydrophobic complex with selenium in natural water, agricultural soil and food samples by GFAAS. Whereas Triton X-114, a nonionic surfactant and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid were used for Se extraction as a dispersing medium. The conical flasks contents were shack on a vortex mixer to increase the extraction efficiency. Multivariate techniques were used to evaluate extraction parameters; pH, vortex time, APDC amount, volume of ionic liquid and Triton X-114 and centrifugation rate on the recovery of Se. The central composite design (CCD) was used for further optimization of the essential extraction parameters. The enhancement factor and limit of detection were obtained as 98.7 and 0.07 µg L−1. The certified reference materials was used for accuracy of method and the related standard deviation was found to be 3.51%. The resulted data indicated that concentrations of Se in all types of water samples were below the permissible limit recommended by WHO.