High Performance Liquid Chromatography And Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry In Mercury Speciation Analysis Applications

Mercury is one of the most hazardous pollutants due to its bioaccumulative and persistent properties in the environment and ecosystem. The toxicity, metabolism and bioavailability of mercury depend not only on the total concentration but also on the chemical forms. So it’s necessary to establish a rapid method to separate mercury species in routine analysis. The objective of this work is to develop green methods for the speciation of mercury compounds by coupling high performance liquid chromatography to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS).Effective separation of inorganic mercury (Hg2+), methylmercury (MeHg), ethylmercury (EtHg) and phenylmercury (PhHg) within2-2.5min was achieved on two consecutive12.5mm strong cation exchange guard columns with2.0mmol L-1L-cysteine or thiourea (pH2.0) as the mobile phase. The detection limits for Hg2+, MeHg, EtHg and PhHg were0.019,0.027,0.031,0.022μg L-1respectively. The relative standard deviations of peak height and peak area (5.0μg L-1for each Hg species) were all below3%.Fast separation of mercury species (Hg2+, MeHg, EtHg and PhHg) was achieved within5min on a12.5mm strong anion exchange column with1.0mmol L-13-mercapto-l-propanesulfonate (pH7.0) as the mobile phase. The detection limits for Hg2+, MeHg, EtHg and PhHg were0.008,0.024,0.029å'Œ0.034μg L-1, respectively. The relative standard deviations of peak height and peak area (5.0μg L-’for each Hg species) were all below3%.With2.0mmol L1sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate+1.0mmol L-1L-cysteine+2.0mmol L-1L-phenylalanine as the mobile phase, mercury species were separated in3.5min on a12.5mm C18guard column.