Speciation of six arsenic compounds in Korean seafood samples by HPLC-ICP-MS

Abstract

Extracts of 33 samples of seaweed, shrimp, fish and shellfish, including two certified reference materials, were investigated for their contents of arsenic compounds (arsenic speciation). An anion exchange high performance liquid chromatography procedure was optimized to separate six arsenic compounds present in the seafood samples with dynamic reaction gas cell by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The concentration of each species in the sample were: arsenobetaines - 0.019-1.04 mg/kg, arsenocholine - 0.033-69.0 mg/kg, arseniousacid - ND-1.25 mg/kg, dimethylarsinate - ND-3.75 mg/kg, monomethylarsonate - ND-8.33 mg/kg, arsenic acid ND-0.55 mg/kg. Additionally, unknown arsenic species were present in most of samples. The intake of inorganic arsenic via ingestion of the seafood samples that were analyzed did not represent a toxicological problem to humans. The limits of detection (LOD) were in the range of 0.5-2.5 mug/kg.