Extraction and detection of arsenicals in seaweed via accelerated solvent extraction with ion chromatographic separation and ICP-MS detection.

An accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) device was evaluated as a semi-automated means of extracting arsenicals from ribbon kelp. The effect of the experimentally controllable ASE parameters (pressure, temperature, static time, and solvent composition) on the extraction efficiencies of arsenicals from seaweed was investigated. The extraction efficiencies for ribbon kelp (approximately 72.6%) using the ASE were fairly independent (< 7%) of pressure, static time and particle size after 3 ASE extraction cycles. The optimum extraction conditions for the ribbon kelp were obtained by using a 3 mL ASE cell, 30/70 (w/w) MeOH/H2O, 500 psi (1 psi = 7 KPa), ambient temperature, 1 min heat step, 1 min static step, 90% vol. flush, and a 120 s purge. Using these conditions, two other seaweed products produced extraction efficiencies of 25.6% and 50.5%. The inorganic species present in the extract represented 62.5% and 27.8% of the extracted arsenic. The speciation results indicated that both seaweed products contained 4 different arsenosugars, DMA (dimethylarsinic acid), and As(V). One seaweed product also contained As(III). Both of these seaweed products contained an arsenosugar whose molecular weight was determined to be 408 and its structure was tentatively identified using ion chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (IC-ESI-MS/MS).