Sequential extraction of inorganic arsenic compounds and methyl arsenate in human urine using mixed-mode monolithic silica spin column coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A sequential analytical method was developed for the detection of arsenite, arsenate, and methylarsenate in human urine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The combination of a derivatization of trivalent arsenic compounds by 2,3-dithio-1-propanol (British antilewisite; BAL) and a reduction of pentavalent arsenic compounds (arsenate and methylarsenate) were accomplished to carry out the analysis of arsenic compounds in urine. The arsenic derivatives obtained using BAL were extracted in a stepwise manner using a monolithic spin column and analyzed by GC-MS. A linear curve was observed for concentrations of arsenic compounds of 2.0 to 200 ng/mL, where the correlation coefficients of calibration curves were greater than 0.996 (for a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio >10). The detection limits were 1 ng/mL (S/N > 3). Recoveries of the targets in urine were in the range 91.9-106.5%, and RSDs of the intra- and interday assay for urine samples containing 5, 50, and 150 ng/mL of arsenic compounds varied between 2.95 and 13.4%. The results from real samples obtained from a patient suspected of having ingested As containing medications using this proposed method were in good agreement with those obtained using high-performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.