Determination of arsenic species in seawater by flow injection hydride generation in situ collection followed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: Stability of As(III)

Dissolved arsenic is present in seawater at the 1 μg l −1 level in various chemical forms: mainly, As(III) and As(V) inorganic arsenic, MMA, DMA, and eventually, unknown organic compounds. The concentrations of the minor arsenic species are well below the detection limit of graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). Therefore, a preconcentration/separation step is generally required before their determination. In this study, arsenic species were determined in seawater by flow injection hydride generation (FI-HG), collection within the graphite furnace, followed by atomic absorption spectrometry. This protocol permitted a preconcentration factor of about 1000 lowering the detection limit of arsenic in seawater to about 1.5 ng l −1 for a 10 ml sample volume under optimized experimental conditions. Based on the different responses of arsenic species towards hydride generation, an experimental protocol for arsenic speciation was proposed. Total arsenic could be determined after a thermal or a UV irradiation treatment in an alkaline persulfate medium after the conversion of all arsenic species to inorganic As(V). Total hydride-reactive species (As(III), As(V), monomethylarsenic (MMA) and dimethylarsenic (DMA)) could be determined for high NaBH 4 and HCl concentrations because a similar analytical response was obtained for these individual species. As(III) could be determined alone by performing hydride generation in seawater at a pH of about 7–8. Non-hydride-reactive arsenic species were determined by the difference between total arsenic and hydride-reactive species. According to this analytical protocol, arsenic species were determined in reference estuarine and coastal seawaters. Hydride-reactive arsenic species were the major compounds, probably mainly As(V); this study tended also to confirm the presence of non-hydride-reactive organic species in seawater (15%). We also showed that As(III) was not stable in acidified seawater and was also slowly converted to As(V) in a coastal surface seawater at its natural pH. These results indicated that time and preservation conditions could severely modify the speciation of arsenic in seawater, particularly for the preservation of As(III).