Organometallic geochemistry. Isolation and identification of organoarsenic compounds from Green River Formation oil shale

Abstract

A Green River Formation oil shale sample was crushed and extracted with refluxing methanol and analysed by high performance liquid chromatography in combination with graphite furnace atomic absorption detection (h.p.l.c.–g.f.a.a.) to provide evidence for the presence of methyl- and phenyl-arsonic acids and the arsenate ion; further evidence for the acids' identification was provided by derivatization with 3-methylcatechol to form the corresponding five-co-ordinate organoarsenic catecholates followed by capillary column gas chromatography–electron impact mass spectrometry (g.c.–e.i. m.s.) analysis.