Hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction combined with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry for the speciation of arsenic (III) and arsenic (V) in fresh waters and human hair extracts

A new method of hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) using ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC) as extractant combined with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) using Pd as permanent modifier has been described for the speciation of As(III) and As(V). In a pH range of 3.0–4.0, the complex of As(III)–APDC complex can be extracted using toluene as the extraction solvent leaving As(V) in the aqueous layer. The post extraction organic phase was directly injected into ETAAS for the determination of As(III). To determine total arsenic in the samples, first As(V) was reduced to As(III) by l-cysteine, and then a microextraction method was performed prior to the determination of total arsenic. As(V) assay was based on subtracting As(III) form the total arsenic. All parameters, such as pH of solution, type of organic solvent, the amount of APDC, stirring rate and extraction time, affecting the separation of As(III) from As(V) and the extraction efficiency of As(III) were investigated, and the optimized extraction conditions were established. Under optimized conditions, a detection limit of 0.12 ng mL−1 with enrichment factor of 78 was achieved. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of the method for five replicate determinations of 5 ng mL−1 As(III) was 8%. The developed method was applied to the speciation of As(III) and As(V) in fresh water and human hair extracts, and the recoveries for the spiked samples are 86–109%. In order to validate the developed method, three certified reference materials such as GBW07601 human hair, BW3209 and BW3210 environmental water were analyzed, and the results obtained were in good agreement with the certified values provided.