Arsenic compounds in terrestrial organisms. III: Arsenic compounds inFormica from an old arsenic smelter site

Abstract

Total arsenic concentrations in the freeze‐dried pulverized ants (Formica sp.) and material from an ant‐hill collected at a former arsenic roasting facility were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) after microwave digestion with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The ants contained 12.6±0.9 mg As/kg dry mass, the ant‐hill material 5420±90 mg As/kg dry mass. Total arsenic concentrations in needles of Picea abies and Larix decidua (spruce and larch needles) were also determined, because needles are the main constituents of the upper layer of ant‐hill material. Needles of Picea abies contained 1.17 mg As/kg dry mass and needles of Larix decidua 3.71 mg As/kg. The Formica sp. and ant‐hill material were extracted with water or methanol/water (9:1). The extracts were chromatographed on a cation‐exchange and an anion‐exchange column. Water extracted 20% of the arsenic from the ants and only 3% from the ant‐hill material. With methanol/water (9:1) only 7% of the arsenic was released by the ants and 0.5% by the ant‐hill material. The arsenic compounds in the column effluents that were introduced into the plasma via a hydraulic high‐pressure nebulizer (HHPN) were quantified on‐line by ICP–MS. Arsenite and arsenate were the major arsenic compounds in the extract. Dimethylarsinic acid and traces of methylarsonic acid and arsenobetaine were also detected. The extracts of the ant‐hill material contained the same compounds. Additionally, traces of trimethylarsine oxide were found. The presence of arsenobetaine was confirmed by spiking an extract of the ants with synthetic arsenobetaine bromide. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Arsenic Speciation, Distribution, and Bioaccessibility in Shrews and Their Food

“…Soil, food, and water contain predominantly inorganic arsenic: arsenite [As(OH) 3 , As(III)] and arsenate [H 2 AsO 4 -, As(V)] (Mandal and Suzuki 2002). Methylated arsenicals, specifically, monomethylarsonic acid [MMA(V)] and dimethylarsinic acid [DMA(V)], are also present as arsenic species in plants and invertebrates but in small amounts (Abedin et al 2002;Kuehnelt et al 1997;Moriarty et al 2009;Reimer et al 2010;Schaeffer et al 2006). Laboratory studies show that mammals methylate inorganic arsenic in vivo, and methylated compounds account for a significant portion of excreted arsenic in terrestrial animals (Styblo et al 2000).…”

Arsenic speciation in polychaetes (Annelida) and sediments from the intertidal mudflat of Sundarban mangrove wetland, India

“…Marine samples have so far provided the greatest number of naturally occurring arsenic compounds with up to 50 compounds identified (Nischwitz and Pergantis, 2006), although recent work revealed that terrestrial organisms also contain many of these compounds (Geiszinger et al 1998;Kuehnelt et al 1997;Watts et al 2008;Button et al 2009). There are clear patterns of arsenic compounds among marine organisms (Francesconi & Edmonds, 1997).…”

Arsenic

“…Significant amounts of arsenobetaine were also found in some mushroom species (Byrne et al 1995, Kuehnelt et al 1997a, and minor amounts in ants (Formica sp.) (Kuehnelt et al 1997c) and in earthworms (Geiszinger et al 1998). This might support the assumption that the terrestrial arsenic cycle resembles that of the marine cycle.…”