Arsenic in Plants: Methods of Extraction and Speciation

The work presents the results of doctoral research for arsenic in plants grown on arsenic contaminated soils. Detail descriptions of the methods of extraction and speciation of arsenic are reported. Many plant samples were collected over a number of growing seasons from the abandoned gold mining areas located at a place called Deloro in Ontario, Canada. Collected plant samples were processed, prepared, extracted, and analyzed using state of art analytical instruments. Interesting results were observed regarding the extractability of arsenic from plants depending on the chemical states of arsenic (As-III, As-V) and plant species. Various solvents were evaluated for their extraction efficiencies (EE's) and a sequential extraction method for the complete extraction of arsenic was developed.