Coupled high performance liquid chromatography-microwave digestion-hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry for inorganic and organic arsenic speciation in fish tissue

A high performance liquid chromatography-microwave digestion-hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry (HPLC-MW-HG-AAS) coupled method is described for As(III), As(V), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), arsenobetaine (AsB) and arsenocholine (AsC) determination. A Hamilton PRP-X100 anion-exchange column is used for carrying out the arsenic species separation. As mobile phase 17 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) is used for As(III), As(V), MMA and DMA separation, and ultrapure water (pH 6.0) for AsB and AsC separation. Prior to injection into the HPLC system AsB and AsC are isolated from the other arsenic species using a Waters Accell Plus QMA cartridge. A microwave digestion with K(2)S(2)O(8) as oxidizing agent is used for enhancing the efficiency of conversion of AsB and AsC into arsenate. Detection limits achieved were between 0.3 and 1.1 ng for all species. The method was applied to arsenic speciation in fish samples.     

Non-chromatographic speciation of toxic arsenic in fish

A rapid, sensitive and economic method has been developed for the direct determination of toxic species of arsenic present in fish and mussel samples. As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) were determined by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry using a series of proportional equations without the need of a chromatographic previous separation. The method is based on the extraction of arsenic species from fish through sonication with HNO₃ 3 mol l⁻¹ and 0.1% (m/v) Triton and washing of the solid phase with 0.1% (m/v) EDTA, followed by direct measurement of the corresponding hydrides in four different experimental conditions. The limit of detection of the method was 0.62 ng g⁻¹ for As(III), 2.1 ng g⁻¹ for As(V), 1.8 ng g⁻¹ for MMA and 5.4 ng g⁻¹ for DMA, in all cases expressed in terms of sample dry weight. The mean relative standard deviation values (R.S.D.) in actual sample analysis were: 6.8% for As(III), 10.3% for As(V), 8.5% for MMA and 7.4% for DMA at concentration levels from 0.08 mg kg⁻¹ As(III) to 1.3 mg kg⁻¹ DMA. Recovery studies provided percentages greater than 93% for all species in spiked samples. The analysis of SRM DORM-2 and CRM 627 certified materials evidenced that the method is suitable for the accurate determination of arsenic species in fish.     

Sorption of As(V) from waters using chitosan and chitosan-immobilized sodium silicate prior to atomic spectrometric determination

A natural biosorbent containing amine functional groups, chitosan, and a novel sorbent, chitosan-immobilized sodium silicate, were prepared and utilized for the selective sorption of As(V) from waters prior to its determination by atomic spectrometric techniques, namely, hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HGAAS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Chitosan was synthesized from chitin and sodium silicate was used as the immobilization matrix due to its straightforward synthesis. Through sequential sorption studies, it was shown that chitosan-immobilized sodium silicate has exhibited a better chemical stability than the chitosan itself which demonstrates the advantage of immobilization method. Both chitosan and chitosan-immobilized sodium silicate were shown to selectively adsorb As(V), arsenate, from waters at pH 3.0 at which neither chitin nor sodium silicate displayed any sorption towards As(V). The sorption of arsenate by chitosan is supposed to have electrostatic nature since pH of 3.0 is both the point at which the amino groups in chitosan are protonated and also the predominant form of As(V) is H₂AsO₄⁻. A pre-oxidation step is required if both As(III) and As(V) are to be determined. Desorption from the sorbents was realized with 1.0% (w/v) l-cysteine prepared in a pH 3.0 solution adjusted with HCl. Among the possible interfering species tested, only Te(IV) and Sb(III) were shown to cause a decrease in the sorption capacity especially at high interferant concentrations. High concentrations of Sb(III) also resulted in gas phase interference during hydride generation.The validity of the method was checked both via spike recovery experiments and also through the analysis of a standard reference material. Spike recovery tests were carried out with four different types of water; namely, ultra-pure, bottled drinking, tap, and sea water; and percent recovery values were found to be 114 (±4), 112 (±2), 43 (±4), and 0 (±1), respectively. It was concluded that the proposed methodology can be applied efficiently to low-to-medium ionic strength solutions, such as most drinking waters. The accuracy of the method was additionally investigated through the analysis of a standard reference material and a good correlation was found between the determined (26.6 ± 2.4 μg L⁻¹) and the certified (26.67 μg L⁻¹) value.     

A new hydride generation system applied in determination of arsenic species with ion chromatography-hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (IC-HG-AFS)

A novel procedure was developed for the determination of arsenite (As(III)), arsenate (As(V)), monomethylarsonic (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) with ion chromatography-hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (IC-HG-AFS) by employing a new gas-liquid separator (GLS). The effective separation of the four arsenic species was achieved in about 12 min. With a sample loading volume of 20 μl, the measurable minimum for As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V) were 0.02, 0.045, 0.043 and 0.166 ng, respectively, along with relative standard deviations of 1.1, 1.1, 1.7 and 2.2% at the 100 μg l⁻¹ level (n = 6) for As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V), respectively. The present procedure was applied for the speciation of arsenic in underground water and in urine samples, and the sum of the four arsenic species by IC-HG-AFS was in good agreement with the total value by HG-AFS.     

Application of fast ultrasound water-bath assisted enzymatic hydrolysis--high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry procedures for arsenic speciation in seafood materials

Enzymatic hydrolysis of seafood materials for isolating arsenic species (As(III), As(V), DMA and AsB) has been successfully performed by assisting the procedure with ultrasound energy (35 kHz) supplied by an ultrasound water-bath. The use of pepsin, as a proteolytic enzyme, under optimized operating conditions (pH 3.0, temperature 40 °C, enzyme to sample ratio of 0.3) led to an efficient assistance of the enzymatic process in a short period of time (from 4.0 to 30 min). The enzymatic extract was then subjected to a clean-up procedure based on ENVI-Carb™ solid phase extraction (SPE). An optimized anion exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) permitted the fast separation (less than 15 min) of six different arsenic species (arsenite, As(III); arsenate, As(V); dimethylarsinic acid, DMA; and arsenobetaine, AsB; as well as monomethylarsonic acid, MMA; and arsenocholine, AsC) in a single run. Relative standard deviations (n = 11) of the over-all procedure were 7% for AsB and DMA, 11% for As(III) and 9% for MMA. HPLC–ICP-MS determinations were performed using aqueous calibrations covering arsenic concentrations of 0, 5, 10, 25, 100 and 200 μg L⁻¹ (expressed as arsenic) for As(III), As(V), MMA, DMA and AsC; and 0, 125, 250, 500, 750, 1000 and 2000 μg L⁻¹ (expressed as arsenic) for AsB. Germanium (5 μg L⁻¹) was used as an internal standard. Analytical recoveries from the anion exchange column varied from 96 to 105% (enzymatic digests spiked with low target concentrations), from 97 to 104% (enzymatic digests spiked with intermediate target concentrations), and from 98 to 103% (enzymatic digests spiked with high target concentrations). The developed method was successfully applied to two certified reference materials (CRMs), DORM-2 and BCR 627, which offer certified AsB and DMA contents, and also to different seafood samples (mollusks, white fish and cold water fish). Good agreement between certified and found AsB concentrations was achieved when analyzing both CRMs; and also, between certified and found DMA concentrations in BCR 627. In addition, the sum of the different arsenic species concentrations found in most of the analyzed samples was statistically similar to the assessed total arsenic concentrations after a total sample matrix decomposition treatment.     

Complementary chromatography separation combined with hydride generation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for arsenic speciation in human urine

This study aimed to establish complementary high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods including three modes of separation: ion pairing, cation exchange, and anion exchange chromatography, with detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The ion pairing mode enabled the separation of inorganic arsenate (As(V)), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA(V)), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA(V)). However, the ion pair mode was unable to differentiate inorganic arsenite (As(III)) from arsenobetaine (AsB); instead, cation exchange chromatography was used to isolate and quantify AsB. Anion exchange chromatography was able to speciate all of the aforementioned arsenic species. Potential inaccurate quantification problem with urine sample containing elevated concentration of AsB, which eluted immediately after As(III) in anion exchange or ion pairing mode, was overcame by introducing a post-column hydride generation (HG) derivatization step. Incorporating HG between HPLC and ICPMS improved sensitivity and specificity by differentiating AsB from hydride-forming arsenic species. This paper emphasizes the usefulness of complementary chromatographic separations in combination with HG-ICPMS to quantitatively determine concentrations of As(III), DMA(V), MMA(V), As(V), and AsB in the sub-microgram per liter range in human urine.     

On-line coupling of an ultraviolet titanium dioxide film reactor with a liquid chromatography/hydride generation/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry system for continuous determination of dynamic variation of hydride- and nonhydride-forming arsenic species in very small microdialysate samples

We describe a method for continuously monitoring both hydride- and nonhydride-forming arsenic species in 10-microL microdialysate samples by coupling together on-line high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a post-column UV/TiO2 film reactor, and hydride generation (HG) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). To maximize the signal intensities of the desired arsenic species, we optimized the photocatalytic oxidation efficiency of the analyte species and used a rapid on-line pre-reduction process to convert the oxidized species into As(III) prior to HG-ICP-MS determination. The UV/nano-TiO2 film reactor was manufactured by coating nano-TiO2 onto the interior of a glass tube. Impregnation and sol-gel methods were employed to deposit the TiO2 films, and their effectiveness for the oxidation of organic arsenicals was compared. To enhance the decomposition efficiency of organic arsenicals, we investigated the effects of the acidity and the composition of the column effluent. Because of the improved HG efficiency toward the tested arsenicals and the adoption of a segmented flow technique to retain the peak resolution in our on-line LC-UV/nano-TiO2 film reactor-HG-ICP-MS instrument, the detection limits for arseneous acid [As(III)], monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), arsenic acid [As(V)], and arsenobetaine (AsB) were all in the submicrogram-per-liter range (based on 3 sigma) for 10-microL injections. A series of validation experiments--analyses of certified reference urine and rabbit serum samples--indicated that these methods can be applied satisfactorily to the continuous determination of As(III), MMA, DMA, As(V), and AsB in blood and in the extracellular space of target organs.     

Determination of total arsenic and toxicologically relevant arsenic species in fish by using electrothermal and hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry

A scheme for the determination of total As by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) and the sum of toxicologically relevant arsenic species (As(III), As(V), monomethylarsonate (MMA) and dimethylarsinate (DMA) using hydride generation AAS (HGAAS) in fish samples was developed. Simple and fast microwave assisted extraction in tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH, 0.075% m / v) or in water-methanol mixture (80 + 20 v / v) for 20 min is proposed for quantitative leaching of arsenic species from fish tissue. Total As was measured by ETAAS directly in the TMAH extract under optimal instrumental parameters (pyrolysis temperature 1400 °C and atomization temperature 2000 °C) with Pd as modifier ensuring thermal stabilization and isoformation of all extracted arsenic species. The analytical features of the method are as follows: limit of detection (LOD) 0.45 μg g^− 1 (dry wt.), within-run and between-run precision in the range 4-8% and 5-12%, respectively, for arsenic contents 0.5-30 μg g^− 1 and recoveries 98-102%. The sum of toxicologically relevant arsenic species (As(III) + As(V) + MMA + DMA) was determined by flow injection HGAAS directly from the TMAH extract or water-methanol mixture and trapping of arsines onto Zr-Ir coated graphite tube followed by ETAAS measurement. l-cysteine is used as reagent for leveling off responses of different arsenic species in the presence of TMAH or water-methanol mixture. The LODs achieved are 0.0038 and 0.0031 μg g^− 1 (dry wt.), respectively, for fish extracts in TMAH and in water-methanol mixture. Within-batch and between-batch RSDs are in the range 3-5% and 4-7% for arsenic contents of 0.009-0.25 μg g^− 1 (dry wt.) for TMAH extracts and 2-4% and 3-6% for methanol water extracts, respectively. Selective reaction media for generation of respective hydrides from arsenic species were recommended for further speciation purposes in methanol-water extracts, viz. citrate buffer (pH 5.2) for the determination of As(III), 0.2 mol L^− 1 acetic acid for the determination of As(III) + DMA and 7 mol L^− 1 hydrochloric acid for the determination of inorganic As(III) + As(V). LODs are 0.0035, 0.0051 and 0.0046 μg g^− 1 (dry wt.) for As(III), DMA and As(V). The relative standard deviation is 4-8% for three arsenic species at As levels of 0.009-0.5 μg g^− 1 (dry wt.). The accuracy of the proposed speciation scheme is confirmed by the analysis of certified reference materials.     

Non-chromatographic speciation of toxic arsenic in vegetables by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry after ultrasound-assisted extraction

A non-chromatographic, sensitive and simple analytical method has been developed for the determination of toxic arsenic species in vegetable samples by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) were determined by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry using a series of proportional equations. The method is based on a single extraction of the arsenic species considered from vegetables through sonication at room temperature with H(3)PO(4) 1 mol L(-1) in the presence of 0.1% (w/v) Triton XT-114 and washing of the solid phase with 0.1% (w/v) EDTA, followed by direct measurement of the corresponding hydrides in four different experimental conditions. The limit of detection of the method was 3.1 ng g(-1) for As(III), 3.0 ng g(-1) for As(V), 1.5 ng g(-1) for DMA and 1.9 ng g(-1) for MMA, in all cases expressed in terms of sample dry weight. Recovery studies provided percentages greater than 91% for all considered species in spiked samples of chards and aubergines. Total toxic As found in the aforementioned samples was at the level of 90 ng g(-1); As(III) is followed by As(V), DMA and MMA which are the main species of As in chards being As(V) the main As compound in aubergines.     

Speciation analysis of inorganic arsenic by a multisyringe flow injection system with hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometric detection

In this study, a new technique by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS) for determination and speciation of inorganic arsenic using multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) is reported. The hydride (arsine) was generated by injecting precise known volumes of sample, a reducing sodium tetrahydroborate solution (0.2%), hydrochloric acid (6 M) and a pre-reducing solution (potassium iodide 10% and ascorbic acid 0.2%) to the system using a multisyringe burette coupled with one multi-port selection valve. This solution is used to pre-reduce As(V) to As(III), when the task is to speciate As(III) and As(V). As(V) is determined by the difference between total inorganic arsenic and As(III). The reagents are dispensed into a gas-liquid separation cell. An argon flow delivers the arsine into the flame of an atomic fluorescence spectrometer. A hydrogen flow has been used to support the flame. Nitrogen has been employed as a drier gas (Fig. 1).Several variables such as sample and reagents volumes, flow rates and reagent concentrations were investigated in detail. A linear calibration graph was obtained for arsenic determination between 0.1 and 3 μg l⁻¹. The detection limit of the proposed technique (3σ_b/S) was 0.05 μg l⁻¹. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of As at 1 μg l⁻¹ was 4.4 % (n = 15). A sample throughput of 10 samples per hour was achieved. This technique was validated by means of reference solid and water materials with good agreement with the certified values. Satisfactory results for speciation of As(III) and As(V) by means of the developed technique were obtained.     

Simultaneous separation and determination of six arsenic species in rice by anion‐exchange chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The simultaneous separation and determination of arsenite As(III), arsenate As(V), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), arsenobetaine (AsB), and arsenocholine (AsC) in rice samples have been carried out in one single anion‐exchange column run by high‐performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. To estimate the effect of variables on arsenic (As) speciation, the chromatographic conditions including type of competing anion, ionic strength, pH of elution buffer, and flow rate of mobile phase have been investigated by a univariate approach. Under the optimum chromatographic conditions, baseline separation of six As species has been achieved within 10 min by gradient elution program using 4 mM NH₄HCO₃ at pH 8.6 as mobile phase A and 4 mM NH₄HCO₃, 40 mM NH₄NO₃ at pH 8.6 as mobile phase B. The method detection limits for As(III), As(V), MMA, DMA, AsB, and AsC were 0.4, 0.9, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.3 μg/kg, respectively. The proposed method has been applied to separation and quantification of As species in real rice samples collected from Hunan Province, China. The main As species detected in all samples were As(III), As(V) and DMA, with inorganic As accounting for over 80% of total As in these samples.     

On‐Line Determination of Arsenic Species in Sea Water by Selective Hydride Generation Coupled with Inductively Coupled Plasma — Mass Spectrometry

A method for direct de termination of total in organic arsenic (III+V), arsenic (III) and dimethylarsinate (DMA) in sea water was developed by combining continuous‐flow selective hydride generation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) is presented. The principle underlying selective hydride generation is based on proper control of the reaction conditions for achieving separation of the respective arsenic species. The effects of pH and composition of reaction media on mutual interference between the arsenic species were investigated in detail. The results indicate that the appropriate media for the selective determination of total in organic arsenic, DMA and As(III) are 6 M HNO₃, acetate buffer at pH = 4.63 and citrate buffer at pH = 6.54, respectively. The concentrations of total inorganic arsenic species, As(III+V), and As(III) were respectively deter mined and that of As(V) was obtained by the difference between them. As to the concentration of DMA, it was obtained after correction from the interference caused by As(III) and As(V). By following the established procedure, the detection lim its (as based on 3‐sigma criterion) for As(III+V), As(III) and DMA were 0.050, 0.009, and 0.002 ng/mL, respectively. There liability of the pro posed method was evaluated in terms of precision and spike addition. The results indicated that the precision of better than 3% and spike recovery of 95 to 105% for all the arsenic species tested in the natural sea water samples can be obtained.     

Evaluation of atomic fluorescence spectrometry as a sensitive detection technique for arsenic speciation

The potential of coupling anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography, hydride generation and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HPLC–HG–AFS) for arsenic speciation is considered. The effects of hydrochloric acid and sodium tetrahydroborate concentrations on signal-to-background ratio, as well as argon and hydrogen flow rates, were investigated. Detection limits for arsenite, dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and arsenate were 0.17, 0.45, 0.30 and 0.38 μg l⁻¹, respectively, using a 20-μl loop. Linearity ranges were 0.1–500 ng for As(III) and MMA (as arsenic), and 0.1–800 ng for DMA and As(V) (as arsenic). Arsenobetaine (AsB) was also determined by introducing an on-line photo-oxidation step after the chromatographic separation. In this case the limits of detection and linear ranges for the different species studied were similar to the values obtained previously for As(V). The technique was tested with a human urine reference material and a volunteer's sample. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of inorganic oxyanions of As and Se by HPLC-ICPMS

A liquid chromatographic separation of inorganic oxyanions of As (As(V) and As(III)) and Se (Se(VI) and Se(IV)) using mixed ion-pairing reagents followed by ICPMS detection is described. The separation was accomplished in less than 4 min on Capcell C18 RP column using mixed ion-pairing modifier containing 5 mM of butane sulfonic acid (BSA), 2 mM malonic acid, 0.30 mM hexane sulfonic acid (HSA) and 0.5% methanol of pH 2.5. All four species were resolved with retention times of 2.4, 2.6, 3.0, and 3.1 min for Se(VI), As(V), As(III), and Se(IV), respectively. The detection limits were less than 0.08 and 0.77 μg l⁻¹ for arsenic and selenium species, respectively. The relative standard deviation of the proposed method for arsenic (at 2.5 μg l⁻¹) and selenium (at 10 μg l⁻¹) was less than 3.7 and 4.8%, respectively. The technique was used to determine inorganic oxyanions of As and Se in water samples (tap, well, and river) and extracts of coal fly ash and sediment. Low power microwave digestion was employed for extraction from fly ash and sediment samples.     

Optimization of the solubilization, extraction and determination of inorganic arsenic [As(III) + (As(V)] in seafood products by acid digestion, solvent extraction and hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry

A method for the selective quantitative determination of inorganic arsenic [As(III) + As(V)] in seafood was developed. In order to do so, various procedures for the solubilization and extraction of inorganic arsenic quoted in the literature were tested. None provided satisfactory recoveries for As(III) and As(V) in real samples. Consequently, a methodology was developed which included solubilization with HCl and subsequent extraction with chloroform. The arsenic was solubilized in 9 mol l-1 hydrochloric acid. After reduction by hydrobromic acid and hydrazine sulfate, the inorganic arsenic was extracted into chloroform, back-extracted into 1 mol l-1 HCl, dry-ashed, and quantified by hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS). The analytical features of the method are as follows: detection limit, 3.07 ng g-1 As (fresh mass); precision (RSD), 4.0%; recovery, As(III) 99%, As(V) 96%. In the optimized conditions, other arsenic species--dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), arsenobetaine (AB), arsenocholine (AC) and tetramethylarsonium-ion (TMA+)--were not co-extracted. However, different percentages of minor species were extracted with chloroform: monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) 100%, and trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO) 3-10%. Real samples and reference materials of seafood (DORM-1, DORM-2, TORT-2, CRM-278 and SRM-1566a) were analyzed. The analysis of DORM-1 provided an inorganic arsenic value of 124 +/- 4 ng g-1 As, dry mass (dm), which is very close to the value obtained by other authors using high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) and ionic chromatography-hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry (IC-HG-AAS).     

Evaluation of liquid chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for arsenic speciation in water from industrial treatment of shale

This work describes an arsenic speciation analysis in aqueous effluent from a shale industrial plant using liquid chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LC–ICP–MS). Arsenic species have been separated through an anion-exchange column and several parameters investigated, such as retention time, pH, flow rate and concentration of the mobile phase (ammonium carbonate), chloride interference and column conditioning time. The best conditions have been found by fixing the pH of the mobile phase at 8.7. Keeping the mobile phase flow rate at 1.5 ml min^− 1, arsenic species were separated by varying the concentration of the mobile phase and the time of elution, as follow: 1.5 mmol l^− 1 for 10 min, 12 mmol l^− 1 for 10 min and 20 mmol l^− 1 for 10 min, respectively. Up to 13 As species present in the samples were separated under these conditions and the following species could be identified and quantified: arsenite [As(III)], dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and arsenate [As(V)]. The limits of detection of the LC–ICP–MS method were 0.02, 0.06, 0.04 and 0.10 μg l^− 1 of As(III), DMA, MMA, and As(V), respectively. The concentration of these species in the samples were from 3.7 to 6.4 μg l^− 1, 6.9 to 13.2 μg l^− 1, 100 to 142 μg l^− 1 and 808 to 1363 μg l^− 1 for As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V), respectively. The accuracy, evaluated by recovery tests, varied from 94 to 105% and the precision, evaluated by the relative standard deviation was typically lower than 10%.     

Arsenic extraction in marine biological materials using pressurised liquid extraction

A pressurised liquid extraction (PLE) procedure, by using methanol/water mixture, was developed for extracting arsenical species from marine biological material (mussel and fish) and standard reference materials (CRMs). A Plackett-Burman 2⁸ × 3/64 designs (PBD) was used as a multivariate strategy for the evaluation of the effects of several variables (MeOH/H₂O solvent mixture, temperature, static time, extraction steps, pressure, mean particle size and diatomaceous earth (DE) mass/sample mass ratio) on the extracting procedure. Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) was used to determine the total As concentration on the methanolic extracts. The accuracy of the optimised extraction procedure was verified by analysing several CRMs (GBW-08751, BCR-278R and DORM-2). The precision obtained (between 4.5 and 6.2%) was adequate. The extracted arsenic species (mainly arsenobetaine (AsB)) were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to ultraviolet cracking and hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HPLC-UV-HG-AFS). The analytical performances obtained were adequate for the arsenic speciation in marine biological samples; LOD between 10 and 35 ng g⁻¹. The accuracy was verified for AsB using DORM-2. Finally, the proposed method (PLE followed by HPLC-UV-HG-AFS) was applied to mussel and fish samples.     

Determination of the different oxidation states of As and Sb by a new electrochemical hydride generator coupled with atomic fluorescence spectrometry

A novel disk electrochemical hydride generator has been developed for the determination of As and Sb. Compared with the traditional thin-layer cell, the disk cell combined the advantages of quick assembly and easy operation. This electrochemical system for hydride generation in neutral buffer solutions has been studied for analytical usefulness in coupling with atomic fluorescence spectrometry. It was found that the use of neutral phosphate buffer solution could markedly increase the fluorescence intensity of As(III) and Sb(III) and reduce the impact of cathode erosion on the stability of signal intensity. At the same time, the fluorescence intensity of As(V) and Sb(V) were almost suppressed totally. The detection limits (3σ) of 0.031 μg L⁻¹ As(III) and 0.026 μg L⁻¹ Sb(III) in aqueous solutions were obtained, respectively. The precisions (n = 11) for 20 μg L⁻¹ As(III) and Sb(III) were 2.0% and 2.7%, respectively. The method was successfully applied for determination of different oxidation states of As and Sb in environmental samples.     

Application of photochemical reactions of Se in natural waters by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry

A simple, sensitive and accurate method for selenium speciation in natural waters is proposed. The principle of this method is based on recently discovered photochemical reactions of Se(IV) and organic selenium in different aqueous solutions. The speciation of all selenium species was performed with hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Only one pre-reduction step is needed in this procedure, which can greatly reduce the risk of contamination, minimize the analytical work and improve the quality of selenium speciation. In this paper, a comparison is made between the proposed method and a previous method [A.G. Cutter, Anal. Chim. Acta 98 (1978) 59]. In this proposed protocol, Se(IV) was directly measured in 3.0 M HCl. Se(IV) + org-Se was measured directly after a UV irradiation (300 nm) for 2.5 h in a 1.0% (v/v) HNO₃-2.0% (v/v) HCl matrix. Total selenium was obtained in another aliquot sample after a UV irradiation in the 3.0 M HCl. No pre-concentration, separation or more sophisticated instruments are required.