Determination of the reduction and methylation of antimony in soil samples from an arsenic contaminated tannery site

Eser Becer*, Verena Van Fleet-Stalder, Thomas G. Chasteen
Department of Chemistry, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas and
The Texas Regional Institute for Environmental Studies, Huntsville, Texas

Biological reduction of antimony salts to volatile organoantimony compounds was observed when soil samples from an arsenic polluted site in Switzerland were amended with antimony compounds in various growth media. The soil microorganisms were allowed to grow anaerobically in test tubes at 30 degrees C in the presence of different antimony compounds and the headspaces above these solutions were then analyzed for a reduced and methylated antimony compound [Sb⁺³/Sb⁺⁵--->(CH₃)₃Sb] using fluorine-induced chemiluminescence detection after separation by capillary gas chromatotography.

Nominated as a finalist in the first Annual Graduate Student Competition at this meeting