Abstract: Inorganic arsenic has been identified as a harmful pollutant to human health. However, the regulated standard of arsenite concentration set by administration exposes people to relatively high risk, partially due to the limitation of analysis method. In this work, a dispersive liquid-liquid extraction method was developed and applied to the extraction of arsenite from water. Ionic liquids (ILs) were selected as extraction solvent. Effect of key factors including sample volume, pH value, and amount of ILs on the extraction efficiency of the proposed method were studied. By using the proposed method, the extraction of arsenite can be completed in minutes with the enrichment factor reaching 210 and a good linearity in the range of 0.05-10 μg/L under optimized condition, yet an error only 1.5%. When coupled with atomic absorption spectrometer equipped with graphite furnace atomizer, the limit of arsenite detection was found as low as 10 ng/L. In addition, the proposed method consumes little organic solvents, making it more environmental friendly

Key words: dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction, arsenite content, pollutant, ionic liquids, ion exchange, atomic absorption spectroscopy