Abstract: Objectives: To establish a high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method for the determination of inorganic arsenic in complementary food for infants and young children. Methods: Sample preparation was achieved by extraction with 0.15 mmol/L nitric acid at 90 ℃. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Hamilton PRP-X100 column (250 mm × 4.1 mm, 10 μm). Results: The linear ranges for As (Ⅲ) and As (Ⅴ) were both between 0.5 μg/L and 400 μg/L with a correlation coefficient of more than 0.9990. The detection limits for As (Ⅲ) and As (Ⅴ) were between 0.06 μg/L and 0.08 μg/L, and the spike recoveries were in the range of 80.5%－128.5% with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 5%. Conclusions: This method was simple, sensitive and accurate, and could be used to determine the inorganic arsenic levels in complementary foods for infants young children.

Key words: high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP/MS), complementary foods for infants and young children, inorganic arsenic species, determination