Extraction techniques for arsenic species in rice flour and their speciation by HPLC–ICP-MS

• Extraction behaviors of inorganic As species in rice flour are reported.
• Several extracting solvents for As species were tested.
• Reaction mechanism of As(V) during the extraction process were investigated.
• Suitable extraction technique for As was developed.
• New heat block extraction techniques for As(III) and As(V) were developed.

The extraction of arsenic (As) species present in rice flour samples was investigated using different extracting solvents, and the concentration of each species was determined by HPLC–ICP-MS after heat-assisted extraction. The extraction efficiencies for total arsenic species and especially for arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] were investigated. As(III), As(V) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA) were found in the samples, and the concentration of DMAA did not vary with treatment conditions. However, the concentrations of extracted total arsenic and those of As(III) and As(V) depended on the extracting solvents. When an extracting solvent was highly acidic, the concentrations of extracted total arsenic were in good agreement with the total arsenic concentration determined by ICP-MS after microwave-assisted digestion, though a part of the As(V) was reduced to As(III) during the highly acidic extraction process. Extraction under neutral conditions increased the extracted As(V), but extracted total arsenic was decreased because a part of the As(III) could not be extracted. Optimum conditions for the extraction of As(III) and As(V) from rice flour samples are discussed to allow the accurate determinations of As(III), As(V) and DMAA in the rice flour samples. Heat block extraction techniques using 0.05 mol L−1 HClO4 and silver-containing 0.15 mol L−1 HNO3 were also developed.

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