Arsenic speciation by hydride generation-Quartz furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Optimization of analytical parameters and application to environmental samples

Analytical parameters of hydride generation, trapping, gas chromatography a nd atomic absorption spectrometry detection in a quartz cell furnace (HG/GC /QFAAS) device have been optimized in order to develop an efficient and sen sitive method for arsenic compounds speciation. Good performances were obta ined with absolute detection limits in the range of 0.1 - 0.5 ng for arseni te, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid (MMAA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA) an d trimethylarsine oxide (TMAO). A pH selective reduction for inorganic arse nic speciation was successfully reported. Application to the accurate deter mination of arsenic compounds in different environmental samples was perfor med.