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Environmental problems - Chemical approaches
RESEARCH ARTICLE

New arsenic compound identified in rice grain: dimethylarsonyldimethylarsinic acid

Andrea Raab https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2058-0105 A * , Kevin Kubachka B , Manuela Strohmaier A , Marc Preihs A and Jörg Feldmann A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A TESLA - Institute for Analytical Chemistry, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 1, 8010 Graz, Austria.

B US FDA, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Forensic Chemistry Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

* Correspondence to: andrea.raab@uni-graz.at

Handling Editor: Jason Unrine

Environmental Chemistry - https://doi.org/10.1071/EN22063
Submitted: 16 June 2022  Accepted: 2 August 2022   Published online: 2 November 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.

Environmental context. The arsenic content and its speciation in harvested rice are dependent on the genetics of the rice variety, the agricultural practise as well as the speciation of arsenic in the soil. The geochemical conditions and therefore the microbiological regime in the paddy fields can influence the biomethylation of the arsenic in the porewater and therefore can influence the extent of arsenic uptake and its speciation in rice plants.

Rationale. Rice is routinely monitored throughout the world for compliance with regulatory limits of inorganic arsenic. Rice grains are well known for their relatively high arsenic concentration in the form of dimethylarsinic acid, methylarsonic acid and inorganic arsenic with other arsenic containing compounds rarely occurring. During a routine survey by the US FDA, an unexpected arsenic compound was noted.

Methodology. The compound was eventually identified using a combination of liquid chromatography with elemental (HPLC–ICPMS) and molecular mass spectrometry (HPLC–ESMS) as well as chemical derivatisation.

Results. Here we report the identification of the previously unknown arsenical in rice grain, dimethylarsonyldimethylarsinic acid; its origin is unknown.

Keywords: arsenic, dimethylarsonyldimethylarsinic acid, elemental mass spectrometry, ESMS, ICPMS, molecular mass spectrometry, rice, speciation.


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