Speciation analysis of mercury employing volatile species generation: Approaches to reliable determination in blood and hair

A rapid method for the determination of methylmercury and inorganic mercury species in whole blood by liquid chromatography with detection using vapor generation ICP-MS/MS

Speciation methods provide a more detailed picture regarding human exposure to toxic metals/metalloids and their effects on human health. The toxicity of methylmercury (MeHg) differs considerably from inorganic mercury (iHg), such that their separation and quantification in whole blood is helpful in identifying sources and possible pathways of exposure. Liquid chromatography (LC) has several advantages over gas chromatography (GC) for the separation of iHg from MeHg due to the former's compatibility with uptake rates of common nebulizer systems used with ICP-MS and the latter's requirement for a derivatization step to produce gaseous Hg species for an effective separation. Here we report an improved method that was developed to separate and quantify MeHg and iHg species in whole blood using isocratic LC elution with determination by vapor generation (VG) coupled with ICP-MS/MS. Chromatographic separation of MeHg and iHg is achieved in ∼4 minutes on a C8 reversed phase column. In those rare cases where there may be human exposure to ethylmercury (EtHg), or where a certified reference material (CRM) is known to contain EtHg (e.g., NIST SRM 955c), all three Hg species can be separated by extending the LC elution time to 8 minutes. Adding VG post column boosts the signal-to-noise ratio, and lowers the LOD. With optimized sample preparation, the LC-VG-ICP-MS/MS method LOD for both iHg and MeHg is 0.2 μg L-1. Method validation was conducted using NIST SRM 955c Toxic Metals in Caprine Blood and NIST SRM 955d Toxic Elements and Metabolites in Frozen Human Blood. Additional validation data were generated using archived blood reference materials from multiple Proficiency Testing programs and External Quality Assessment schemes. Blood-based quality control materials, previously analyzed for Hg species using isotope dilution with GC coupled to ICP-MS, were provided by the US CDC.

Retention behavior of Hg2+, MeHg+, thimerosal and phenylmercuric acetate on a C18 RP-HPLC column

Humans are exposed to potentially toxic mercuric mercury (Hg2+) and methylmercury (MeHg+) by the ingestion of food, to the bactericidal vaccine additive thimerosal (THI), and/or to the antifungal compound phenylmercuric acetate (PMA) which is used in some lens cleaning ophthalmic fluids. While numerous HPLC methods have been developed to separate Hg2+ and MeHg+ in environmental samples (e.g. food, surface waters), comparatively few have been reported for THI and PMA, in part owing to their increased hydrophobicity. We investigated the retention behavior of Hg2+, MeHg+, THI and PMA on a reversed-phase (RP) HPLC column using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer (FAAS) as a Hg-specific detector. Mobile phases comprised of 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) with acetonitrile (ACN) concentrations of 30-50 % (v:v) produced single Hg-peaks, which eluted in the order THI, Hg2+, MeHg+ and PMA. With the 50 % ACN mobile phase, all mercurials eluted within 5 min. While the utilization of a FAAS precludes the analysis of environmental waters with the developed RP-HPLC-FAAS method, the latter is useful to probe the stability of THI and PMA in the presence of physiologically relevant concentrations of salt (100 mM in blood plasma) and l-cysteine (0.5 mM in hepatocyte cytosol), which is important as both mercurials have been recently shown to effectively inhibit the main protease of SARS-CoV-2, though the actual inhibitory Hg-species is unknown.

The Development of a Rapid, Cost-Effective, and Green Analytical Method for Mercury Speciation

Mercury is a naturally occurring metal found in various inorganic and organic forms within the environment. Due to its high toxicity, there is global concern regarding human exposure to this element. The combination of high-performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) is commonly used to analyze the different forms of mercury in a sample due to its high sensitivity and ability to selectively detect mercury. However, the traditional HPLC-ICP-MS methods are often criticized for their lengthy analysis times. In this study, we have refined the conventional approach by transitioning to ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ICP-MS). This modification has resulted in significant reductions in runtime as well as reagent and argon usage, thereby offering a more rapid, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective method. We successfully adapted an HPLC-ICP-MS method to UHPLC-ICP-MS, achieving the analysis of Hg2+ and MeHg+ within 1 min with a mobile phase consumption of only 0.5 mL and a sample volume of 5.0 µL; this is a major advance compared to HPLC analysis with run times generally between 5 and 10 min. The method's performance was assessed by analyzing muscle and liver tissue samples (serving as reference material) from fish, demonstrating the versatility of the method in relation to different complex matrices.