Determination of Arsenic Species in Fish Oil After Acid Digestion

Arsenic speciation is of increasing interest to the food industry, as concerns about high total arsenic concentrations in food can often be alleviated to a great extent if the ratio of toxic, less toxic and non-toxic arsenic compounds in the sample is known. The lipid matrix of fish oil is a challenge in the determination of arsenic species, as current methods for this type of analysis require the analyte to be water-soluble. In this study, two sample preparation techniques were applied. One the one hand water-soluble species were extracted with methanol/water, on the other, acid digestion was applied to release lipid-soluble arsenic compounds into the aqueous phase. Ion chromatography – inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (IC-ICP-MS) was used for separation and sensitive element-specific detection of arsenic compounds. Additional experiments, including alkaline hydrolysis, were carried out to find out more about the type of lipids arsenic is bound to in fish oil. Up to eight different arsenic species were detected and quantified in fish oil with dimethylarsinate being the major compound both in the aqueous extract and in the acid digest. No inorganic arsenic was detected in the aqueous extract, and the maximum concentration of arsenate determined in the acid digest was 0.05 μg g⁻¹. The total arsenic concentration determined by ICP-MS ranged from <0.1 to 5 μg g⁻¹. With regard to the mass balance, approximately 1% of the total arsenic content was extractable with methanol/water, whereas the sum of arsenic species quantified after acid digestion yielded 85–100% of the total arsenic content. It was confirmed that the large fraction of arsenic in fish oil not extractable on an aqueous basis consists of organoarsenic compounds. This new approach in sample preparation makes the complete characterization of the arsenic content in the sample possible with regard to the respective species, providing necessary information required for risk assessment.     

Preconcentration of Trace Elements in Water for Speciation Studies

Trace element speciation has recently become one of the most important problems in water analysis. Proper combination of preconcentration techniques with instrumental determination methods is essential to speciation analysis, because sensitivity and selectivity of direct determination methods are generally lacking. The present paper describes such preconcentration techniques as filtration, centrifugation, flotation and sorption, which have been developed in the author's laboratory for the speciation of heavy metals in river and pond waters by electron microscopy, X-ray microanalysis and chemical analysis. The application of freeze concentration to the speciation of silica in high-purity waters is also discussed.     

相转移催化元素硫的歧化反应

本工作将相转移催化(PTC)应用于元素硫歧化反应,大大降低了反应温度,提高了反应速度。该反应被证实与熔态硫在水溶液中的歧化相同,即4S+6OH~-=2S~(2-)+S_2O_3~(2-)+3H_2O。比较了四乙基铵、四丁基铵、十六烷基三甲基铵和三辛基甲基铵四种相转移催化剂及四氯乙烯、二甲苯和四氯乙烷三种溶剂的影响。讨论了本体系相转移催化的证据。为改进以元素硫歧化反应为基础的提取冶金过程提供了依据。     

Fundamental and applied investigations in plasma-source mass spectrometry for elemental analysis

The current status of plasma source-mass spectrometry (PS-MS) is reviewed. An overview of interference effects that exist, alternative plasma sources available, and mass spectrometer interface studies is provided. A discussion of current and future development areas in plasma source mass spectrometry is also included.     

A microwave-assisted sequential extraction of water and dilute acid soluble arsenic species from marine plant and animal tissues

This paper describes the use of dilute nitric acid for the extraction and quantification of arsenic species. A number of extractants (e.g. water, 1.5 M orthophosphoric acid, methanol-water and dilute nitric acid) were tested for the extraction of arsenic from marine biological samples, such as plants that have proved difficult to quantitatively extract. Dilute 2% (v/v) nitric acid was found to give the highest recoveries of arsenic overall and was chosen for further optimisation. The optimal extraction conditions for arsenic were 2% (v/v) HNO₃, 6 min⁻¹, 90 °C. Arsenic species were found to be stable under the optimised conditions with the exception of the arsenoriboses which degraded to a product eluting at the same retention time as glycerol arsenoribose. Good agreement was found between the 2% (v/v) HNO₃ extraction and the methanol-water extraction for the certified reference material DORM-2 (AB 17.1 and 16.2 μg g⁻¹, respectively, and TETRA 0.27 and 0.25 μg g⁻¹, respectively), which were in close agreement with the certified concentrations of AB 16.4 ± 1.1 μg g⁻¹ and TETRA 0.248 ± 0.054 μg g⁻¹.To preserve the integrity of arsenic species, a sequential extraction technique was developed where the previously methanol-water extracted pellet was further extracted with 2% (v/v) HNO₃ under the optimised conditions. Increases in arsenic recoveries between 13% and 36% were found and speciation of this faction revealed that only inorganic and simple methylated species were extracted.     

Determination of arsenic compounds in beverages by high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Arsenic compounds including arsenous acid (As(III)), arsenic acid (As(V)), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A Hamilton PRX-100 anionic-exchange column and a pH 8.5 K₂HPO₄/KH₂PO₄ 5.0 × 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹ mobile phase were used to achieve arsenic speciation. The separation of arsenic species provided peaks of As(III) at 2.75 min, DMA at 3.33 min, MMA at 5.17 min and As(V) at 12.5 min. The detection limits, defined as three times the standard deviation of the lowest standard measurements, were found to be 0.2, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 ng mL⁻¹ for As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V), respectively. The relative standard deviation values for a solution containing 5.0 μg L⁻¹ of As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V) were 1.2, 2.1, 2.5 and 3.0%, respectively. This analytical procedure was applied to the speciation of arsenic compounds in drinking (soft drink, beer, juice) samples. The validation of the procedure was achieved through the analysis of arsenic compounds in water and sediment certified reference materials.     

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.     

Electrochemical vapor generation of selenium species after online photolysis and reduction by UV-irradiation under nano TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> photocatalysis and its application to selenium speciation by HPLC coupled with atomic fluorescence spectrometry

An online UV photolysis and UV/TiO₂ photocatalysis reduction device (UV–UV/TiO₂ PCRD) and an electrochemical vapor generation (ECVG) cell have been used for the first time as an interface between high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) for selenium speciation. The newly designed ECVG cell of approximately 115 L dead volume consists of a carbon fiber cathode and a platinum loop anode; the atomic hydrogen generated on the cathode was used to reduce selenium to vapor species for AFS determination. The noise was greatly reduced compared with that obtained by use of the UV–UV/TiO₂ PCRD–KBH₄–acid interface. The detection limits obtained for seleno-DL-cystine (SeCys), selenite (Se^IV), seleno-DL-methionine (SeMet), and selenate (Se^VI) were 2.1, 2.9, 4.3, and 3.5 ng mL^–1, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the speciation of selenium in water-soluble extracts of garlic shoots cultured with different selenium species. The results obtained suggested that UV–UV/TiO₂ PCRD–ECVG should be an effective interface between HPLC and AFS for the speciation of elements amenable to vapor generation, and is superior to methods involving KBH₄.     

Complexation of Ni, Cu, Zn, and Cd by DOC in some metal-impacted freshwater lakes: a comparison of approaches using electrochemical determination of free-metal-ion and labile complexes and a computer speciation model, WHAM V and VI

Complexation of Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) by dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in some freshwater lakes in Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, Canada, where they were impacted by effluents from a nearby copper smelter, was measured by kinetic and equilibrium methods using cathodic and anodic stripping voltammetry. The measured free-metal-ion and labile metal-complex concentrations were compared with the predictions made by a widely-used computer speciation model, the Windermere Humic Aqueous Model (WHAM): WHAM V and its improved version WHAM VI. If it is assumed that 65% of the DOC is “active”, i.e. behaving as isolated humic substances such as fulvic acid, both versions of WHAM are able to predict the labile and free-metal-ion concentrations of Ni, Zn, and Cd reasonably well; however, both underestimate the free-copper-ion concentration by one to two orders of magnitude. WHAM VI is generally better than or equal to WHAM V for successfully predicting most of the free-metal-ion concentrations. The modelled competition by Al(III) and Fe(III) in the lake surface waters showed that in most cases Cu(II) was most affected by this competition. WHAM VI predicts a larger effect from the Al(III) and Fe(III) competition than does WHAM V.