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This short review deals with the properties and significance of the determination of selenium, which is in trace amounts an essential element for animals and humans, but toxic at high concentrations. It may cause oxidative stress in cells, which leads to the chronic disease called selenosis. Several analytical techniques have been developed for its detection, but electroanalytical methods are advantageous due to simple sample preparation, speed of analysis and high sensitivity of measurements, especially in the case of stripping voltammetry very low detection limits even in picomoles per liter can be reached. A variety of working electrodes based on mercury, carbon, silver, platinum and gold materials were applied to the analysis of selenium in various samples. Only selenium in oxidation state + IV is electroactive therefore the most of voltammetric determinations are devoted to it. However, it is possible to detect also other forms of selenium by indirect electrochemistry approach.

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Equilibrium constants and reaction rate constants for the esterification of secondary alkan-2-ols with acetic acid were measured at 60°C in 1,4-dioxane. Taft coefficients, as single parameter (without inductive effects), and two-parameter correlation (including inductive and steric effects), of the measurements were used for the prediction of esterification rate constants for secondary alkan-2-ols with monocarboxylic acids. For this prediction, previously observed results of linear correlation of rate constants for the esterification of propan-1-ol with monocarboxylic acids measured under identical experimental conditions were applied. Two parameter Taft equations for the correlation of secondary alkan-2-ols and for monocarboxylic acids were combined, resulting in an overall correlation equation usable for the prediction of reaction rates for secondary alkan-2-ols with any monocarboxylic acid. This equation was experimentally verified for the esterification of three randomly chosen alkan-2-ols with three randomly chosen monocarboxylic acids.