Determination of 'arsenosugars' in algae with anion-exchange chromatography and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer as element-specific detector.

The retention behavior of four naturally occurring dimethylarsinoylribosides with -CH2-CHOH-CH2X (X = OH, HO3POCH2CHOHCH2OH, SO3H, OSO3H) as aglycones, of arsenous acid, arsenic acid, methylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsinic acid was investigated on a Hamilton PRP-X100 anion-exchange column with aqueous solutions of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (20 mmol/L) in the pH range of 3.8-9.0 as mobile phase. A HP 4500 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) served as arsenic-specific detector. The influence of pH, temperature, and the concentration of methanol in the mobile phase on the retention times of these arsenic compounds was explored. An aqueous 20 mM ammonium dihydrogen phosphate solution at pH 5.6 at a column temperature of 40 degrees C was considered optimal as it allowed the separation of seven of the arsenic compounds within 16 min. Only arsenous acid and the ribose with the glycerol aglycone have overlapping signals with both migrating almost with the solvent front. At a concentration of 0.50 ng As mL(-1) the relative standard deviations (n = 3) of the signal areas of the eight arsenic compounds was in the range from 3.5 to 8.1%. The linear calibration curves (peak areas) from 0.5 to 10 ng/mL had correlation coefficients > 0.997. Extracts obtained from the brown algae Fucus spiralis and Halidrys siliquosa were chromatographed under the optimized conditions. Both species contained the sulfate riboside as the major arsenic compound (approximately 55% of total extractable arsenic) together with the sulfonate- and phosphate riboside. Arsenic acid was a significant constituent of Halidrys siliquosa (approximately 6.5%), but was not detected in Fucus spiralis.