SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF ARSENIC SPECIES BY ION CHROMATOGRAPHY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

Six arsenic species, arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid, dimet hylarsinic acid, arsenobetaine and arsenocholine, were separated by co upled column ion chromatography using carbonate and nitric acid as elu ents, and were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometr y. Coupling of an anion column with a cation column made the simultane ous determination of both the cationic and the anionic arsenic species possible by ion chromatography. Extremely low detection limits, below 0.2 mu g/l (as arsenic), were obtained for all the species studied.