Occurrence of a few organo-arsenicals in jellyfish

Water-soluble fractions containing arsenic compounds were extracted with chloroform-methanol (2:1) from two kinds of jellyfish, Aurelia aurita and Carybdea rastonii, After defatting, each water-soluble fraction was subjected to analysis by HPLC-GFAA (column: ODS 120-T) and HPLC-ICP MS (column: Supelcosil LC-SCX) for arsenical. Arsenobetaine was detected with both analytical systems as the major arsenic compound. Besides arsenobetaine, the tetramethylarsonium ion and arsenocholine were also detected by HPLC-ICP MS. The major arsenical in each jellyfish purified by ion-exchange chromatography using Dowex 50W x 8 (H+ form) and Dowex 50W x 8 (pyridinium form) was confirmed to be arsenobetaine by thin-layer chromatography. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.