Arsenic speciation in natural and contaminated waters using CZE with in situ derivatization by molybdate and direct UV-detection

A simple and sensitive procedure for simultaneous determination of arsenate, arsenite, monomethylarsonate and dimethylarsinate (DMA) ions in waters using CZE with chemical derivatization in situ and UV-detection at 250 nm was developed. The separation was performed in a fused-silica capillary using solution containing sodium molybdate and sodium perchlorate as electrolyte. Molybdate forms heteropolycomplexes with arsenic species in low acidic media, while sodium perchlorate masks silicate ion. The analysis conditions were optimized; the best results were achieved with the electrolyte consisting of 10 mM Na2MoO4 and 10 mM NaClO4 at pH 3.0 using negative voltage and pneumatic injection of the sample. Nevertheless, the signal of arsenite ion was not detected, probably because of its instability. Arsenite ion was quantified as a difference between arsenate ion contents after and before oxidation by bromine water. The detection limits for the fresh water at the level of 5.0 mu g/L for As-III and As-V, 16 mu g/L for DMA and 20 mu g/L for MMA were achieved. The reproducibility varied in the range of 0.06-0.25 relative units. To reduce the interferences of the sample salinity an addition of organic substances and isotachophoretic effect were used.