Activated carbon-modified knotted reactor coupled to electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry for sensitive determination of arsenic species in medicinal herbs and tea infusions

•We report an efficient method for As speciation.•We have modified a knotted reactor with activated carbon for high sorption capacity.•We provide a simple procedure for surface modification of a PTFE knotted reactor.•We have selectively separated inorganic As species from complex matrix samples.•We have implemented a modified KR in a flow injection system coupled to ETAAS.

A flow injection system based on a modified polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) knotted reactor (KR) was developed for arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] species preconcentration and determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Activated carbon (AC) was immobilized on the inner walls of a PTFE KR by a thermal treatment. A significant increase in analyte retention was obtained with the AC-modified KR (100%) as compared to the regular PTFE KR (25%). The preconcentration method involved the on-line formation of As(III)-ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (As-APDC) complex, followed by its adsorption onto the inner walls of the AC-modified KR. After analyte retention, the complex was eluted with acetone directly into the graphite furnace of ETAAS. The parameters affecting the flow injection system were evaluated with a full central composite face centered design with three center points. Under optimum conditions, a preconcentration factor of 200 was obtained with 10 ml of sample. The detection limit was 4 ng L− 1 and the relative standard deviation (RSD) for six replicate measurements at 0.2 μg L− 1 of As were 4.3% and 4.7% for As(III) and As(V), respectively. The developed methodology was highly selective towards As(III), while As(V), monomethylarsonic acid [MMA(V)] and dimethylarsinic [DMA(V)] were not retained in the AC-modified KR. The proposed method was successfully applied for As speciation analysis in infusions originated from medicinal herbs and tea.