What is speciation?
The sorting of an element into the chemical groups
that are present in a sample.
Arsenic can be sorted into two main categories and
then further examined by
Inorganic arsenic
Arsenite → As
3+
in AsO
3
3‐
A t → A
5+
i A O
3
rsena e
s
n s
4
‐
Organic arsenic (monomethylarsonic acid ‐ MMAA,
dimethylarsenic acid ‐ DMAA, arsenobetaine,
dimethylarsinoylribosides, etc.)
Toxicity and Speciation
Variations in toxicity for mercury and arsenic species
are well known. Many other elements have similar
variations in toxicity that arise from particular species.
