Flameless atomic absorption (FAA) and gas-liquid chromatographic studies in arsenic bioanalysis

Procedures for assessment of arsenic in soft tissue by use of flameless atomic absorption (FAA) and gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), have been evolved, with special emphasis on the analytical distinction among inorganic, monomethyl-, and dimethylarsenic in several oxidation states. The chemical bases for such speciation reside in several properties of the arsenicals under consideration: (1) pentavalent inorganic arsenic, methylarsonic, and cacodylic acid are not extracted from tissue matter made strongly acid with hydrochloric acid, while the corresponding trivalent forms (as halides) are extracted; (2) chloroform extracts of samples treated under reducing conditions (HCl-KI) retain organoarsenicals when these extracts are re-extracted with water, but do not when aqueous solutions of oxidants are employed; (3) reduced cacodylate (dimethylarsinous acid) is not detected in the graphite furnace of an FAA unit under conditions selected, while cacodylate can be so detected. For GLC studies, monomethyl- and dimethylarsenic are simultaneously measured as the diethyldithiocarbamate complexes with an instrument equipped for electron-capture detection and containing a glass column packed with silanized 5% OV-17 on Anakrom A.S.