Speciation and determination of bioavailable arsenic species in soil samples by one‐step solvent extraction and high‐performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A new analytical method was developed to determine the bioavailable arsenic species (arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsonic acid) in soil samples using high‐performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Bioavailable arsenic was extracted with ammonium phosphate buffer by a simplified one‐step solvent extraction procedure. To estimate the effect of variables on arsenic extraction, a two‐level Plackett–Burman factorial design was conducted to screen the significant factors that were further investigated by a separate univariate approach. The optimum conditions were confirmed by compromising the stability of arsenic species and the extraction efficiency. The concentration of arsenic species was determined in method blank and soil‐certified reference materials both spiked with standard solutions of arsenic species. All the target arsenic species were stable during the whole extraction procedure. Furthermore, the proposed method was applied to release bioavailable arsenic from contaminated soil samples, showing that the major arsenic species in soil samples were inorganic arsenic: arsenite and arsenate, of which the latter was dominant.