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. 2020 Dec 16:8:101183.
doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2020.101183. eCollection 2021.

Determination of four arsenic species in environmental water samples by liquid chromatography- inductively coupled plasma - tandem mass spectrometry

Sarah J Stetson  1 , Caitlyn Lawrence  2 , Susan Whitcomb  2 , Christopher Kanagy  2
Affiliations

Determination of four arsenic species in environmental water samples by liquid chromatography- inductively coupled plasma - tandem mass spectrometry

Sarah J Stetson et al. MethodsX. .

Abstract

Robust and sensitive methods for monitoring inorganic and organic As species As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinate (DMA), and monomethylarsonate (MMA) in environmental water are necessary to understand the toxicity and redox processes of As in a specific environment. The method is sufficiently sensitive and selective to ensure accurate and precise quantitation of As(III), As(V), DMA, and MMA in surface water and groundwater samples with As species concentrations from tens of nanograms per liter to 50 µg/L without dilution of the sample. Mean recoveries of the four species spiked into reagent water, surface water and groundwater and measured periodically over three months ranged from 87.2 % to 108.7 % and relative standard deviation of replicates of all analytes ranged from 1.1 % to 9.0 %.•A PRP-X100 column and nitrate/phosphate mobile phase was used to separate As(III), As(V), DMA, and MMA in 0.45 µm filtered surface water and groundwater matrices.•Oxygen was used in the collision cell of the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer with MS/MS mode to shift the measured As mass from 75 to 91.•The analytical performance of the method and figures of merit including detection limits, precision, accuracy, and interferences when applied to surface water and groundwater matrices were investigated.

Keywords: Arsenate; Arsenite; Dimethylarsinate; Groundwater; Monomethylarsonate; Surface water.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image, graphical abstract
Graphical abstract
Fig 1
Fig. 1
Chromatograph of 50 µg/L arsenic species standard in water using LC/ICP-MS/MS analysis.
Fig2
Fig. 2
Boxplots of percent recovery of 10 or 50 µg/L As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinate (DMA), and monomethylarsonate (MMA) spiked into surface water and groundwater a) in the laboratory at the time of analysis and b) in the field at the time of collection. Box center line indicates the median, box edges mark the first and third quartiles, whiskers are 1.5 times the interquartile range, and data outliers are points beyond the whiskers.
Fig 3
Fig. 3
Boxplots of relative percent difference between duplicates for As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinate (DMA), and monomethylarsonate (MMA) that were a) measured in the laboratory on samples and sample spikes or b) duplicate samples collected in the field. Box center line indicates the median, box edges mark the first and third quartiles, whiskers are 1.5 times the interquartile range, and data outliers are points beyond the whiskers.
Fig 4
Fig. 4
Comparison of the sum of As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinate (DMA), and monomethylarsonate (MMA) arsenic (Assum) and total dissolved arsenic measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS; Asdiss): a) percent bias of Assum relative to Asdiss versus Asdiss, and b) cumulative distribution function plots for Assum (blue line, sum of speciation) and for Asdiss (green line, measured).
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