Arsenate

In the second half of the 20th century, monosodium methyl arsenate (MSMA) and disodium methyl arsenate (DSMA) – less toxic organic forms of arsenic – have replaced lead arsenate in agriculture.

Arsenite is the most stable soluble form of arsenic in reducing environments and arsenate, which is less mobile than arsenite, is dominant in oxidizing environments at neutral pH.

Dissimilatory arsenate-respiring prokaryotes (DARP) speed up the reduction of As(V) to As(III).

In polluted areas, plant growth may be affected by root uptake of arsenate, which is a phosphate analog and therefore readily transported in plant tissues and cells.

Many species of bacteria can transform arsenite to arsenate in anoxic conditions by using arsenite as an electron donor. citation This is a useful method in ground water remediation.

Ninety percent of this was used for treatment of wood with chromated copper arsenate (CCA).

One is when arsenate is reduced to arsenite which adsorbs to iron oxides less strongly.

Researchers conjecture that, over the course of history, these photosynthesizing organisms produced the arsenates that allowed the arsenate-reducing bacteria to thrive.