Application of Hyphenated Techniques in Speciation Analysis of Arsenic, Antimony, and Thallium

Abstract

Due to the fact that metals and metalloids have a strong impact on the environment, the methods of their determination and speciation have received special attention in recent years. Arsenic, antimony, and thallium are important examples of such toxic elements. Their speciation is especially important in the environmental and biomedical fields because of their toxicity, bioavailability, and reactivity. Recently, speciation analytics has been playing a unique role in the studies of biogeochemical cycles of chemical compounds, determination of toxicity and ecotoxicity of selected elements, quality control of food products, control of medicines and pharmaceutical products, technological process control, research on the impact of technological installation on the environment, examination of occupational exposure, and clinical analysis. Conventional methods are usually labor intensive, time consuming, and susceptible to interferences. The hyphenated techniques, in which separation method is coupled with multidimensional detectors, have become useful alternatives. The main advantages of those techniques consist in extremely low detection and quantification limits, insignificant interference, influence as well as high precision and repeatability of the determinations. In view of their importance, the present work overviews and discusses different hyphenated techniques used for arsenic, antimony, and thallium species analysis, in different clinical, environmental and food matrices.

Inorganic Arsenic Determination in Food: A Review of Analytical Proposals and Quality Assessment Over the Last Six Years

“…Some describe food samples or summarize such aspects as pre-treatment, extraction and preservation of the arsenic species, pre-concentration, how to overcome matrix interference, and specific instrumental conditions (such as types of nebulizers, the use of a dynamic reaction cell, and internal standards). 76,77,82,88,90,91,[160][161][162] Some studies treat and discuss a specific subject in depth, as in the work of Pétursdó ttir et al 163 concerning the influence of the extraction step on the analysis of iAs in seafood, with measurement by coupled techniques. Below we summarize studies of applications of coupled techniques for iAs determination in several types of food, according to the separation technique.…”

“…Some other general reviews of element speciation provide broad information on arsenic speciation, including analytical methodology and types of food. 77,[88][89][90][91][92] Moreover, the importance of maintaining the integrity of arsenic species during the overall analytical process, with final measurement using HPLC-ICP-MS and hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS), is emphasized widely in a recent review. 93 Efforts have also been made in the last decades by research scientists, government agencies (FDA and EPA), and commercial laboratories to establish methodologies for the specific determination of iAs in food products.…”

Research on chromium and arsenic speciation in atmospheric particulate matter: short review

“…As shown in Table 1 PM samples for arsenic species determinations were prepared by acid extraction/digestion with using solution such as: HNO3, H3PO4, NH2OH·HCl, ascorbic acid or with citrate buffer. The latest trends in detection element species concern the so-called hyphenated techniques [36]. Determination of As species in PM has been performed with a very sensitive HPLC methodology coupled with hydride generation and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HPLC-HG-AFS) or with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS).…”

Simultaneous separation and determination of thallium in water samples by high‐performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

“…Several studies analyzing the species of Tl based on the hyphenated techniques have been published . Nolan et al.…”

“…Several studies analyzing the species of Tl based on the hyphenated techniques have been published [1,9,[15][16][17][18][19][20]. Nolan et al [9] used an anion exchange column Hamilton PRP-X100 with 100 mmol/L ammonium acetate buffer (pH 6.2) as mobile phase to separate the species of Tl in a certain plant.…”