Study on speciation of As, Cr, and Sb in bottled flavored drinking water samples using advanced analytical techniques IEC/SEC-HPLC/ICP-DRC-MS and ESI-MS/MS

Abstract

The main aim of the research was to develop a complementary analytical approach consisting of bespoke speciation analysis and non-targeted speciation analysis of As, Sb, and Cr in flavored bottled drinking water samples using HPLC/ICP-DRC-MS and ESI-MS/MS. The scope of two previously developed analytical procedures, (1) multielemental speciation procedure for AsIII, AsV, CrVI, SbIII, and SbV analysis and (2) arsenic speciation procedure for AsB, AsIII, DMA, MMA, and AsV quantification, was extended to the analysis of a new sample type in terms of bespoke speciation analysis. As for the non-targeted speciation, analysis size exclusion chromatography was used with ICP-MS and a complementary technique, ESI-MS/MS, was used for the organic species of As, Sb, and Cr screening. Full validation of procedures 1 and 2 was conducted. Procedure 1 and 2 were characterized with precision values in the range from 2.5% to 5.5% and from 3.6% to 7.2%, respectively. Obtained recoveries ranged from 97% to 106% and from 99% to 106% for procedures 1 and 2, respectively. Expanded uncertainties calculated for procedures 1 and 2 ranged from 6.1% to 9.4% and from 7.4% to 9.9%, respectively. The applicability of the proposed procedures was tested on bottled drinking water samples. Results for the real samples in procedure 1 were in the range from 0.286 ± 0.027 [µg L−1] to 0.414 ± 0.039 [µg L−1] for AsIII, from 0.900 ± 0.083 [µg L−1] to 3.26 ± 0.30 [µg L−1] for AsV, and from 0.201 ± 0.012 [µg L−1] to 0.524 ± 0.032 [µg L−1] for SbV. CrVI and SbIII were not detected in any sample. As for procedure 2, results were in the range from 0.0541 ± 0.0053 [µg L−1] to 0.554 ± 0.054 [µg L−1] for AsB. Results for AsIII and AsV obtained with procedure 2 were in good accordance with results obtained with procedure 1. DMA and MMA were not detected in any sample.