ABSTRACT
Arsenic(V) and arsenic(III) in sea-water have been separated by complexing the arsenic(III) with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC) in the range 4.0-4.5 and extracting the complex with chloroform. The organic phase is then wet-ashed with a 1:1 mixture of concentrated nitric acid and perchloric acid to get rid of all organics, and the arsenic(III) is determined by hydride generation and atomic-absorption spectrophotometry. Total arsenic is determined by first reducing arsenic(V) to arsenic(III) with potassium iodide and then applying the method used for arsenic(III). The arsenic(V) content is determined by difference. The low detection limit of 0.031 ng ml and the high sensitivity and precision make the method suitable for analysis of open ocean waters.
