ARSENIC COMPOUNDS IN TERRESTRIAL ORGANISMS .3. ARSENIC COMPOUNDS IN FORMICA SP. FROM AN OLD ARSENIC SMELTER SITE

Total arsenic concentrations in the freeze-dried pulverized ants (Form ica sp.) and material from an ant-hill collected at a former arsenic r oasting facility were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass sp ectrometry (ICP-MS) after microwave digestion with nitric acid and hyd rogen peroxide, The ants contained 12.6+/-0.9 mg As/kg dry mass, the a nt-hill material 5420+/-90 mg As/kg dry mass, Total arsenic concentrat ions in needles of Picea abies and Larix decidua (spruce and larch nee dles) were also determined, because needles are the main constituents of the upper layer of ant-hill material. Needles of Picea abies contai ned 1.17 mg As/kg dry mass and needles of Larix decidua 3.71 mg As/kg, The Formica sp. and ant-hill material were extracted with water or me thanol/water (9:1). The extracts were chromatographed on a cation-exch ange and an anion-exchange column, Water extracted 20% of the arsenic from the ants and only 3% from the ant-hill material, With methanol/wa ter (9:1) only 7% of the arsenic was released by the ants and 0.5% by the ant-hill material, The arsenic compounds in the column effluents t hat were introduced into the plasma via a hydraulic high-pressure nebu lizer (HHPN) were quantified on-line by ICP-MS, Arsenite and arsenate were the major arsenic compounds in the extract, Dimethylarsinic acid and traces of methylarsonic acid and arsenobetaine were also detected. The extracts of the ant-hill material contained the same compounds, A dditionally, traces of trimethylarsine oxide were found. The presence of arsenobetaine was confirmed by spiking an extract of the ants with synthetic arsenobetaine bromide. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.