Speciation of inorganic arsenic species and total inorganic arsenic in rice using microwave-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Human exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) via rice consumption is of increasing concern. In the present study, microwave-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction (MADLLME) and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) were developed for the speciation of iAs in rice samples. After microwave-assisted digestion, the As(III) ion reacted with diethyldithiophosphoric acid (DDTP) to form an As-DDTP complex and was extracted at the same time. Some parameters affecting digestion, complex formation, and extraction were studied and optimised. Under the optimised conditions, a detection limit of 0.2 mu gkg(-1) with a correlation coefficient of 0.9901 were obtained with a calibration curve in the range of 0.5-200 mu gkg(-1). Total iAs was determined after reduction of As(V) to As(III) with sodium thiosulfate and potassium iodide, and As(V) was calculated by difference. The proposed extraction procedure was successfully applied for the determination of iAs ions in certified reference materials (NIST CRM 1568a and NMIJ CRM 7503a) and 10 rice samples produced in Iran and other Asian countries.