Arsenic speciation in environmental samples of contaminated soil

A coupled method of high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine arsenic compounds, s uch as arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid, ar senobetaine and arsenocholine in soils. The technique was successfully appl ied to analyse environmental samples from an arsenic-contaminated soil; ars enate was found to be the major component. Due to microbial activity, trans formation from arsenate to arsenite, resulted in monomethylarsonic acid and dimethylarsinic acid also being present. The measurements showed that the transformations induced by microorganisms in the highly contaminated soil l ead to a detoxification. It is thus possible to use microorganisms for phyt oremediation of contaminated soils. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.