Speciation of Six-Arsenic Species of Rice in Korea by HPLC/ICPMS

Determination of arsenic (As) speciation in rice is necessary because inorganic As species are more toxic than organic As. Arsenic levels of rice in Korea were determined by microwave extraction and High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometry. The extraction method showed a high recovery and low Limit of Detection (LOD) and Limit of Quantitation (LOQ). Most of the As species in rice were noticed to be inorganic [Arsenite (AsIII), Dimethylarsinic acid (DMA)]. The percentage of inorganic As/ total As is 69.01 % (36.40- 87.86 %). Arsenite and DMA were the major compounds in rice in Korea when compare to U. S. rice. The order and percentage of As species showed were AsIII (56- 70 %)> DMA (23- 38 %)> AsV (5 %)> MMA(1 %).