Determination of organoarsenicals in the environment by solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry

The development of a method for the analysis of organoarsenic compounds that combines dithiol derivatization with solid-phase microextraction (SPME) sample preparation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is described. Optimization focused on a SPME-GC-MS procedure for determination of 2-chlorovinylarsonous acid (CVAA), the primary decomposition product of the chemical warfare agent known as Lewisite. Two other organoarsenic compounds of environmental interest, dimethylarsinic acid and phenylarsonic acid, were also studied. A series of dithiol compounds was examined for derivatization of the arsenicals, and the best results were obtained either with 1,3-propanedithiol or 1,2-ethanedithiol. The derivatization procedure, fiber type, and extraction time were optimized. For CVAA, calibration curves were linear over three orders of magnitude and limits-of-detection were <6.10(-9) M in solution, the latter a more than 400x improvement compared to conventional solvent extraction GC-MS methods. A precision of <10% R.S.D. was typical for the SPME-GC-MS procedure. The method was applied to a series of water samples and soil/sediment extracts, as well as to aged soil samples that had been contaminated with Lewisite. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.