Speciation analysis of arsenic compounds in seafood by ion chromatography-atomic fluorescence spectrometry

Abstract

Ion chromatography-ultra violet-hydride generation-Atomic Florescence Spectrometry was applied to detect 5 arsenic species in seafoods. The arsenic species studied include arsenobetaine (AsB), arsenite (As(III)), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and arsenate (As(V)), which were extracted from samples using 2% formic acid. Gradient elution using 33 mmol L−1 CH3COONH4 and 15 mmol L−1 Na2CO3 with 10 mL CH3CH2OH at pH 8.4 allowed the chromatographic separation of all the species on a Hamilton PRP-X100 anion-exchange column in less than 8 min. In this study, an ultrasound extraction method was used to extract arsenic species from seafood. The extraction efficiency was good and the recoveries from spiked samples were in the range of 72.6%–109%; the precision between sample replicates was higher than 3.6% for all determinations. The detection limits were 3.543 μg L−1 for AsB, 0.426 μg L−1 for As(III), 0.216 μg L−1 for DMA, 0.211 μg L−1 for MMA, and 0.709 μg L−1 for As(V), and the linear coefficients were greater than 0.999. We also developed an application of this method for the determination of arsenic species in bonito, Euphausia superba, and Enteromorpha with satisfactory results. Therefore, it was confirmed that this method was appropriate for the detection of arsenic species in seafood.