Electromembrane extraction and spectrophotometric determination of As(V) in water samples

•Electromembrane extraction (EME) was combined with a spectrophotometric method.•This is the first report on electromembrane extraction for determination of arsenic.•Selectivity of the spectrophotometric method was improved using EME.•Detection limit of the proposed method is better than that of traditional method.•The proposed method was applied for the determination of As(V) in real water samples.

In this study, for the first time electromembrane extraction (EME) was used as a highly efficient sample pre-treatment method for the UV–VIS spectrophotometric determination of As(V) in water samples. The influences of experimental parameters during EME were investigated and optimized using one-variable-at-a-time methodology as follows: organic solvent: 1-octanol + 2.5% (V/V) di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate, applied voltage: 70 V, extraction time: 15 min, pH of acceptor: 13, stirring rate: 750 rpm. The method allowed the determination of As(V) in the range of 5–300 ng mL−1. The relative standard deviation was found to be within the range of 3.4–7.6%. The limit of detection, corresponding to a signal to noise ratio of three, was 1.5 ng mL−1. The proposed method was finally applied to the determination of As(V) in water samples and relative recoveries ranging from 95 to 102% were obtained.