Arsenic species and selected metals in human urine: validation of HPLC/ICPMS and ICPMS procedures for a long-term population-based epidemiological study.

Exposure to high inorganic arsenic concentrations in drinking water has been related to detrimental health effects, including cancers and possibly cardiovascular disease, in many epidemiological studies. Recent studies suggest that arsenic might elicit some of its toxic effects also at lower concentrations. The Strong Heart Study, a large epidemiological study of cardiovascular disease in American Indian communities, collected urine samples and performed medical examinations on 4,549 participants over a 10-year period beginning in 1989. We used anion-exchange HPLC/ICPMS to determine concentrations of arsenic species (methylarsonate, dimethylarsinate and arsenate) in 5,095 urine samples from the Strong Heart Study. We repeated the chromatography on a portion of the urine sample that had been oxidised, by addition of H(2)O(2), to provide additional information on the presence of As(III) species and thio-arsenicals, and by difference, of arsenobetaine and other non-retained cations. Total concentrations for As, Cd, Mo, Pb, Sb, Se, U, W, and Zn were also determined in the urine samples by ICPMS. The dataset will be used to evaluate the relationships between the concentrations of urinary arsenic species and selected metals with various cardiometabolic health endpoints. We present and discuss the analytical protocol put in place to produce this large and valuable dataset.

Arsenic species in certified reference material MURST-ISS-A2 (Antarctic krill).

Arsenic compounds were quantified in the certified reference material MURST-ISS-A2 (Antarctic krill) using HPLC/ICPMS. The data should prove useful for assessing the accuracy of arsenic speciation procedures.

Heterogeneous versus homogeneous palladium catalysts for ligandless mizoroki-heck reactions: a comparison of batch/microwave and continuous-flow processing.

Mizoroki-Heck couplings of aryl iodides and bromides with butyl acrylate were investigated as model systems to perform transition-metal-catalyzed transformations in continuous-flow mode. As a suitable ligandless catalyst system for the Mizoroki-Heck couplings both heterogeneous and homogeneous Pd catalysts (Pd/C and Pd acetate) were considered. In batch mode, full conversion with excellent selectivity for coupling was achieved applying high-temperature microwave conditions with Pd levels as low as 10(-3) mol %. In continuous-flow mode with Pd/C as a catalyst, significant Pd leaching from the heterogeneous catalyst was observed as these Mizoroki-Heck couplings proceed by a homogeneous mechanism involving soluble Pd colloids/nanoparticles. By applying low levels of Pd acetate as homogeneous Pd precatalyst, successful continuous-flow Mizoroki-Heck transformations were performed in a high-temperature/pressure flow reactor. For both aryl iodides and bromides, high isolated product yields of the cinnamic esters were obtained. Mechanistic issues involving the Pd-catalyzed Mizoroki-Heck reactions are discussed.