Simultaneous preconcentration and quantification of ultra-trace tin and lead species in seawater by online SPE coupled with HPLC-ICP-MS

BACKGROUND

Tin and lead contamination is a global threat to marine ecosystems considering their species-specific toxicity, bioavailability and mobility. Hence simultaneous measurement of multiple tin and lead compounds at μg L-1 to pg L-1 levels in environmental water is always an indispensable but challengeable task. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) is one of the most widely used choices for this purpose because of good sensitivity, strong separation power and good compatibility. Previous HPLC-ICP-MS methods based on a single elemental speciation strategy are low-efficiency and sensitivity-insufficient for a large set of unstable samples and interaction of multiple metal(loid)s down to ng L-1 levels.

RESULTS

In this study, we developed a sensitive, efficient and environment-friendly analytical method for accurate quantification of inorganic and organic species of tin and lead simultaneously based on HPLC-ICP-MS with online integration of solid phase extraction (SPE). By using graphene oxide modified silica conditioned with 1 mM benzoic acid to enrich tin and lead species from 10 mL sample, detection limits were improved to 2-8 pg per liter due to satisfactory enrichment factors (522-2848 folds). The SPE-HPLC-ICP-MS method was applicable to quantification of ultra-trace tin and lead species at pg L-1 levels in uncontaminated seawater. Tributyltin was the only tin species detected at subnanograms per liter levels while Pb(II) was the only lead species detected at several nanograms per liter in thirteen coastal seawater samples collected in Hangzhou Bay, indicating light contamination of tin and lead.

SIGNIFICANCE

Overall, the proposed SPE-HPLC-ICP-MS method is highly sensitive, efficient and environment-friendly that are fairly suitable to routine speciation analysis of tin and lead in environmental, food, and biological samples.

A new bodipy/pillar[5]arene functionalized magnetic sporopollenin for the detection of Cu(II) and Hg(II) ions in aqueous solution

In this study, a new bodipy/pillar[5]arene functionalized magnetic MS-Sp-P[5]-bodipy microcapsule sensor was prepared based on the use of environmentally friendly for the selective and sensitive detection of Cu(II) and Hg(II) ions in aqueous media. SEM results used in the characterization process of the materials synthesized at each stage confirmed the structural and morphological changes in the pore structure, while other characterization results (FT-IR and XRD) elucidated the role of pillar[5]arene compound and bodipy dye in the synthesis of magnetic microcapsule sensors. The colloidal solution of MS-Sp-P[5]-bodipy (water/ethanol)) showed two fluorescence bands centered at 402 and 540 nm. The detection limits of MS-Sp-P[5]-bodipy for Hg(II) and Cu(II) were calculated to be 0.06 µM and 2.27 µM, respectively (at 540 nm). The linear range of the magnetic sensor for Hg(II) and Cu(II) was found to be in the range of 1-150 µM and 10-150 µM, respectively. The experimental results (response time, pH, temperature, sensitivity and selectivity) demonstrated the applicability and potential of the prepared magnetic microcapsule sensor for the detection of Cu(II) and Hg(II) in water and tap water samples containing heavy metal ions.

Surface modification of quartz sand: A review of its progress and its effect on heavy metal adsorption

Quartz sand (SiO₂) is a prevalent filtration medium, boasting wide accessibility, superior stability, and cost-effectiveness. However, its utility is often curtailed by its sleek surface, limited active sites, and swift saturation of adsorption sites. This review outlines the prevalent strategies and agents for quartz sand surface modification and provides a comprehensive analysis of the various modification reagents and their operative mechanisms. It delves into the mechanism and utility of surface-modified quartz sand for adsorbing heavy metal ions (HMIs). It is found that the reported modifiers usually form connections with the surface of quartz sand through electrostatic forces, van der Waals forces, pore filling, chemical bonding, and/or molecular entanglement. The literature suggests that these modifications effectively address issues inherent to natural quartz sand, such as its low superficial coarseness, rapid adsorption site saturation, and limited adsorption capacity. Regrettably, comprehensive investigations into the particle size, regenerative capabilities, and application costs of surface-modified quartz sand and the critical factors for its wider adoption are lacking in most reports. The adsorption mechanisms indicate that surface-modified quartz sand primarily removes HMIs from aqueous solutions through surface complexation, ion exchange, and electrostatic and gravitational forces. However, these findings were derived under controlled laboratory conditions, and practical applications for treating real wastewater necessitate overcoming further laboratory-scale obstacles. Finally, this review outlines the limitations of partially surface modified quartz sand and suggests potential venues for future developments, providing a valuable reference for the advancement of cost-effective, HMI-absorbing, surface-modified quartz sand filter media.

Strategies for mercury speciation with single and multi-element approaches by HPLC-ICP-MS

Mercury (Hg) and its compounds are highly toxic for humans and ecosystems, and their chemical forms determine both their behavior and transportation as well as their potential toxicity for human beings. Determining the various species of an element is therefore more crucial than understanding its overall concentration in samples. For this reason, several studies focus on the development of new analytical techniques for the identification, characterization, and quantification of Hg compounds. Commercially available, hyphenated technology, such as HPLC-ICP-MS, supports the rapid growth of speciation analysis. This review aims to summarize and critically examine different approaches for the quantification of mercury species in different samples using HPLC-ICP-MS. The steps preceding the quantification of the analyte, namely sampling and pretreatment, will also be addressed. The scenarios evaluated comprehend single and multi-element speciation analysis to create a complete guide about mercury content quantification.

Construction of fluorescent logic gates for the detection of mercury(II) and ciprofloxacin based on phycocyanin

Chemical pollutants such as heavy metals and antibiotics in the environment pose a huge threat to humans and animals. Our studies have demonstrated that the fluorescence of phycocyanin showed quenching responses towards both mercury (Hg2+) and ciprofloxacin (CIP), which acted in accordance with the "OR" molecular logic gate. In order to discriminate Hg2+ and CIP in application scenarios, cysteine (Cys) was utilized to design another "INHIBIT" logic gate, in which Hg2+ and Cys were the two inputs. Thus, an intelligent biosensor with dual-target identification capacity was successfully developed by using a fluorescent natural protein in an ingenious logic gate system.

A fluorescent probe for rapid detection of low concentration mercury ions and its application in biological cells

As a toxic substance, mercury can easily cause harm to organisms and humans. The development of methods that allow rapid detection of low concentrations of mercury ions has a positive effect on the natural environment and human health. The fluorescent probe RBSH reported in this paper has a detection limit as low as 5.9 nM, and a fast response time and allows naked eye detection. We characterized its structure by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry, and explored the response mechanism of the probe using Job's plot, and ¹H NMR and mass spectrometry. UV-vis spectrophotometry and fluorescence spectroscopy show the excellent optical properties of the probe RBSH. The low toxicity and high cell penetration capacity demonstrated by the cellular assay open up the possibility of biological experiments. By selecting hosts (natural water samples, soybean plants and zebrafish) where mercury ions are likely to be present in the biological chain for low concentration Hg²⁺ detection, the results all demonstrated the excellent performance of the probe RBSH.

Design and Characterization of Electrochemical Sensor for the Determination of Mercury(II) Ion in Real Samples Based upon a New Schiff Base Derivative as an Ionophore

The present paper provides a description of the design, characterization, and use of a Hg2+ selective electrode (Hg2+-SE) for the determination of Hg2+ at ultra-traces levels in a variety of real samples. The ionophore in the proposed electrode is a new Schiff base, namely 4-bromo-2-[(4-methoxyphenylimino)methyl]phenol (BMPMP). All factors affecting electrode response including polymeric membrane composition, concentration of internal solution, pH sample solution, and response time were optimized. The optimum response of our electrode was obtained with the following polymeric membrane composition (% w/w): PVC, 32; o-NPOE, 64.5; BMPMP, 2 and NaTPB, 1.5. The potentiometric response of Hg2+-SE towards Hg2+ ion was linear in the wide range of concentrations (9.33 × 10-8-3.98 × 10-3 molL-1), while, the limit of detection of the proposed electrode was 3.98 × 10-8 molL-1 (8.00 μg L-1). The Hg2+-SE responds quickly to Hg2+ ions as the response time of less than 10 s. On the other hand, the slope value obtained for the developed electrode was 29.74 ± 0.1 mV/decade in the pH range of 2.0-9.0 in good agreement with the Nernstian response (29.50 mV/decade). The Hg2+-SE has relatively less interference with other metal ions. The Hg2+-SE was used as an indicator electrode in potentiometric titrations to estimate Hg2+ ions in waters, compact fluorescent lamp, and dental amalgam alloy and the accuracy of the developed electrode was compared with ICP-OES measurement values. Moreover, the new Schiff base (BMPMP) was synthesized and characterized using ATR-FTIR, elemental analysis, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR. The PVC membranes containing BMPMP as an ionophore unloaded and loaded with Hg(II) are reported by scanning electron microscope images (SEM) along with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) spectra.

Novel Hg (II) selective fluorescent green sensor based on carbon dots synthesized from starch and functionalized with methimazole

We describe a green new method for the synthesis of water-soluble photoluminescent carbon dots (CDs) that were functionalized with methimazole (MTZ) and applied to determine Hg²⁺ based on the fluorescence extinction. Starch obtained from rice was used as a natural source for the production of CDs by hydrothermal treatment. Also, it was proposed a factorial design to optimize the parameters for CD synthesis and the results showed that the luminescence intensity is a function of temperature and not of the heating time in the hydrothermal process. The synthesized CDs were characterized using fluorescence techniques, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), it was found the formation of CDs on a nanometer scale with an average size of 11 nm. The functionalization with MTZ, eliminated all interferences from other metals, indicating a selective response to Hg²⁺ ions. The method was applied to Hg²⁺ determination in waters. Under optimal conditions, was obtained a limit of detection of 1.8 × 10^-7 mol L^-1 with a linear range from 3.3 × 10^-7 to 50.0 × 10^-6 mol L^-1. Therefore, the proposed method can be considered a simple, selective, and precise alternative that minimizes the number of reagents used for Hg²⁺ determination in natural waters, and can be applied on a large scale in environmental analyzes.

Simultaneous enrichment of inorganic and organic species of lead and mercury in pg L-1 levels by solid phase extraction online combined with high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Quantification of ultra-trace inorganic and organic species of lead and mercury in unpolluted environmental water is crucial to estimate the mobility, toxicity and bioavailability and interactions. Simultaneous pre-concentration of Pb and Hg species in pg L^-1 levels followed by multi-elemental speciation analysis makes great sense to a large set of unstable samples because of time advantages. Herein simultaneous enrichment and speciation analysis of ultra-trace lead and mercury in water was developed by online solid-phase extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SPE-HPLC-ICP-MS) for this aim. Pb(II), trimethyl lead (TML), triethyl lead (TEL), Hg(II), methylmercury (MeHg) and ethylmercury (EtHg) were baseline separated in 11 min under gradient elution using 5 mM l-cysteine (Cys) at pH 2.5 in the 0-1 and 4-15 min and 5 mM Cys + 0.5 mM tetrabutyl ammonium hydroxide solution at pH 2.5 in the 1-4 min. Lead and mercury species in 10 mL intact water samples were adsorbed on a 1 cm C₁₈ enrichment column pre-conditioned with 10 mL of 1 mM 2-mercaptoethanol at 10 mL min^-1, and then directly desorbed by the mobile phases. High enrichment factors (459 for Pb(II), 1248 for TML, 1627 for TEL, 2485 for Hg(II), 1984 for MeHg and 1866 for EtHg) were obtained with good relative standard deviations (<5%), leading to low LODs (0.001-0.011 ng L^-1) and LOQs (0.004-0.036 ng L^-1). Good accuracy of this method was validated by two certified reference materials of total lead in water (GBW08601) and total mercury in water (GBW08603) along with spiked recoveries (89-93%). The method was applied to analyze trace lead and mercury species in river, lake, tap and rain water, and purified and mineral water. Inorganic lead of 13-68 ng L^-1 and inorganic mercury of 21-49 ng L^-1 were measured in the nine water samples whereas TML, TEL and MeHg were not detected with 2-5 ng L^-1 EtHg presented only in one river water and tap water.

Multienzymes activity of metals and metal oxide nanomaterials: applications from biotechnology to medicine and environmental engineering

With the rapid advancement and progress of nanotechnology, nanomaterials with enzyme-like catalytic activity have fascinated the remarkable attention of researchers, due to their low cost, high operational stability, adjustable catalytic activity, and ease of recycling and reuse. Nanozymes can catalyze the same reactions as performed by enzymes in nature. In contrast the intrinsic shortcomings of natural enzymes such as high manufacturing cost, low operational stability, production complexity, harsh catalytic conditions and difficulties of recycling, did not limit their wide applications. The broad interest in enzymatic nanomaterial relies on their outstanding properties such as stability, high activity, and rigidity to harsh environments, long-term storage and easy preparation, which make them a convenient substitute instead of the native enzyme. These abilities make the nanozymes suitable for multiple applications in sensing and imaging, tissue engineering, environmental protection, satisfactory tumor diagnostic and therapeutic, because of distinguished properties compared with other artificial enzymes such as high biocompatibility, low toxicity, size dependent catalytic activities, large surface area for further bioconjugation or modification and also smart response to external stimuli. This review summarizes and highlights latest progress in applications of metal and metal oxide nanomaterials with enzyme/multienzyme mimicking activities. We cover the applications of sensing, cancer therapy, water treatment and anti-bacterial efficacy. We also put forward the current challenges and prospects in this research area, hoping to extension of this emerging field. In addition to therapeutic potential of nanozymes for disease prevention, their practical effects in diagnostics, to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and related biomarkers for future pandemics will be predicted.

Visual and fluorescent detection of mercury ions using a dual-emission ratiometric fluorescence nanomixture of carbon dots cooperating with gold nanoclusters

Mercury (II) ions (Hg²⁺), as one of the most toxic heavy metals, can cause irreversible damage to human health even at very low concentration due to its high toxicity and bioaccumulation. Herein, a facile ratiometric fluorescence nanomixture based on carbon dots‑gold nanoclusters (CDs-Au NCs) was constructed for quantitative detection of Hg²⁺. Lysine functionalized carbon dots (CDs) were prepared by one-pot hydrothermal method, while gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) were synthesized via using chicken egg white (CEW) as reducer and stabilizer. The novel nanomixture exhibited two strong emission peaks at 450 nm and 665 nm under 390 nm excitation, and showed pink fluorescence under UV light. Interestingly, the fluorescence of the CDs-Au NCs nanomixture was selectively response to Hg²⁺. The fluorescence of Au NCs at 665 nm was decreased when Hg²⁺ was presented in the solution, while the fluorescence of CDs at 450 nm stayed constant. The fluorescence color changed from pink to blue obviously with increasing the concentration of Hg²⁺, which indicated that CDs-Au NCs could be used for visual detection Hg²⁺ by the naked eye. Under optimal conditions, this ratiometric fluorescent sensor could detect Hg²⁺ accurately and possess a great sensitivity with a detection limit of 63 nM. In addition, this method was applied to detect Hg²⁺ in real water samples with great recoveries, suggesting its potential in practical application with simplicity, environmentally friendly and low cost.

Speciation analysis of mercury by dispersive solid-phase extraction coupled with capillary electrophoresis

A pretreatment method of dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE) along with back-extraction followed by CE-UV detector was developed for the determination of mercury species in water samples. Sulfhydryl-functionalized SiO2 microspheres (SiO2 -SH) were synthesized and used as DSPE adsorbents for selective extraction and enrichment of three organic mercury species namely ethylmercury (EtHg), methylmercury (MeHg), and phenylmercury (PhHg), along with L-cysteine (L-cys) containing hydrochloric acid as back-extraction solvent. Several main extraction parameters were systematically investigated including sample pH, amount of adsorbent, extraction and back-extraction time, volume of eluent, and concentration of hydrochloric acid. Under optimal conditions, good linearity was achieved with correlation coefficients over 0.9990, in the range of 4-200 μg/L for EtHg, and 2-200 μg/L for MeHg and PhHg. The LODs were obtained of 1.07, 0.34, and 0.24 μg/L for EtHg, MeHg, and PhHg, respectively, as well as the LOQs were 3.57, 1.13, and 0.79 μg/L, respectively, with enrichment factors ranging from 109 to 184. Recoveries were attained with tap and lake water samples in a range of 62.3-107.2%, with relative standard deviations of 3.5-10.1%. The results proved that the method of SiO2 -SH based DSPE coupled with CE-UV was a simple, rapid, cost-effective, and eco-friendly alternative for the determination of mercury species in water samples.

A facile, fast responsive and highly selective mercury(ii) probe characterized by the fluorescence quenching of 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline and two new metal–organic frameworks

A fast responsive and highly selective mercury(ii) sensor was developed using the fluorescence quenching mechanism of 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (2,9-DMP) towards mercury(ii).