Evidence supporting the presence of dissolved dimethylarsinate in the marine environment

Experiments have been carried out to test the commonly held belief that the dissolved dimethylarsenic species present in marine waters is dimethylarsi nate, By employing a novel combination of HPLC and cryogenic-trap hydride g eneration atomic absorption spectroscopy (HG AA), the sensitivity limitatio ns of conventional in-line HPLC instrumentation can be overcome, permitting dimethylarsinate to be measured by HPLC at levels below 200 pg cm(-3) A co mparison of results obtained by this procedure with those obtained by direc t cryogenic-trap HG AA demonstrated that much of the dissolved dimethylarse nic present in the mouth of the Beaulieu River estuary (Hampshire, UK) had HPLC retention characteristics consistent with the presence of dimethylarsi nate. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.