Fast and reliable method for As speciation in urine samples containing low levels of As by LC-ICP-MS: Focus on epidemiological studies

Publication date: 1 April 2017
Source:Talanta, Volume 165
Author(s): V.M.O. Carioni, J.A. McElroy, J.M. Guthrie, R.A. Ngwenyama, J.D. Brockman
The speciation analysis of As in urine samples can provide important information for epidemiological studies. Considering that these studies involve hundreds or thousands of samples, a fast and reliable method using a simple LC system with short-length mixed bed ion exchange chromatographic column coupled to ICP-MS for As speciation in human urine samples was developed in this work. Separation of AB+TMAO, DMA, AC, MMA and As^III+As^V was accomplished within 5min with good resolution when ammonium carbonate solutions were used as mobile phases and H2O2 was added to samples to quantitatively convert As^III–As^V. Repeatability studies yielded RSD values from 2.0% to 4.8% for all species evaluated. Limits of detection (LOD) for As species ranged from 0.003 to 0.051ngg⁻¹. Application of the method to human urine samples from a non-contaminated area showed that the sum of species measured corresponded to 62–125% of the total As in the sample. The recovery values for these species in urine SRM 2669 were in the range of 89–112% and demonstrated the suitability of the proposed method for epidemiological studies.

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