Determination of Methylmercury in Waters Using Sodium Tetraphenylborate Derivatization/Solvent Extraction and Gas Chromatography-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry

A Simple and Robust Method for Determination of Alkylmercury in Seawater and Industrial Wastewater by Phenylation Pretreatment Combined with GC-MS

For determination of methylmercury (MeHg) and ethylmercury (EtHg) in seawater and industrial wastewater, a simple and robust analytical method was developed based on phenylation and solvent extraction followed by GC-MS measurement. Alkylmercury compounds were directly phenylated with sodium tetraphenylborate in water and extracted into toluene. The method detection limits obtained for MeHg and EtHg in pure water were 53.3 and 33.5 ng Hg L^-1, respectively, which are almost 10 times lower than the environmental quality standards for water pollution in Japan (EQSJ): 0.5 μg Hg L^-1. The recoveries of alkylmercury compounds from seawater and four kinds of industrial wastewater except for EtHg from treated wastewater of an optic lens factory were satisfactory (>90%) at 1- or 4-fold concentrations of the EQSJ. Contrarily, the low recovery of EtHg from the treated wastewater (75.4 ± 4.7%) was found to be caused by the rapid decomposition of EtHg into inorganic mercury.

Simultaneous speciation of monomethylmercury and monoethylmercury by aqueous phenylation and purge-and-trap preconcentration followed by atomic spectrometry detection

A new method for the detection of trace levels of organomercury species has been developed by combining the high enrichment capacity of purge and trap with aqueous phenylation derivatization. Phenylation products of monomethylmercury (MeHg) and monoethylmercury (EtHg) were first separated by capillary gas chromatography and then detected by atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) or inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). This combination made it possible to simultaneously quantify trace or ultratrace level of MeHg and EtHg in environmental samples. Method detection limits were 0.03 ng/L for both MeHg and EtHg when AFS was used as the detector and 0.02 and 0.01 ng/L for MeHg and EtHg with ICPMS, respectively. Certified reference materials, IAEA-405 and DORM-2, were analyzed and the results were in accordance with certified values. Both MeHg and EtHg were detected in sediment samples collected from the Florida Everglades and a Canadian wetland. This new method has been validated for the direct detection of trace organomercury species in freshwater samples and has the additional benefits of being free from interference by Cl (-) and dissolved organic matter.

Application of isotope dilution to the determination of methylmercury in fish tissue by solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Species-specific isotope dilution (ID) calibration using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in combination with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for separation and detection of methylmercury (MeHg) in fish tissue is described. Samples were digested with methanolic potassium hydroxide. Analytes were propylated and headspace sampled with a polydimethylsiloxane-coated SPME fused-silica fiber. ID analysis was performed using a laboratory-synthesized 198Hg-enriched methylmercury (Me 198Hg) spike. Using selective ion monitoring (SIM) mode, the intensities of Me 202HgPr+ at m/z 260 and Me 198HgPr+ at m/z 256 were used to calculate the m/z ratio at 260/256, which was used to quantify MeHg in NRCC CRM DORM-2 fish tissue. A MeHg concentration of 4.336 +/- 0.091 microg g(-1) (one standard deviation, n = 4) as Hg was obtained in DORM-2, in good agreement with the certified value of 4.47 +/- 0.32 microg g(-1) (95% confidence interval). A concentration of 4.58 +/- 0.31 microg g(-1) was determined by standard additions calibration using ethylmercury (EtHg) as an internal standard. The three-fold improvement in the precision of measured MeHg concentrations using ID highlights its superiority in providing more precise results compared to the method of standard additions. A method detection limit (3 S.D.) of 0.037 microg g(-1) was estimated based on a 0.25 g subsample of DORM-2.

Methylmercury determination in biological samples by derivatization, solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography with microwave-induced plasma atomic emission spectrometry

A method for the extraction and gas chromatographic determination of methylmercury in biological matrices is presented. By combining the advantages of two extraction techniques-microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and solid-phase microextraction (SPME)--the separation of methylmercury from biological samples is possible. Specifically, the procedure involves microwave extraction with 3 M hydrochloric acid, followed by aqueous-phase derivatization with sodium tetraphenylborate and headspace SPME with a silica fibre coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). For optimization of the derivatization-SPME procedure, a central composite experimental design with alpha = 1.682 and two central points was used to model gas-chromatographic peak areas as functions of pH, extraction temperature and sorption time. A desirability function was then used for the simultaneous optimization for methylmercury and Hg(II). The optimal derivatization-SPME conditions identified were close to pH 5, temperature 100 degrees C, and sorption time 15 min. The identification and quantification of the extracted methylmercury is carried out by gas chromatography with microwave-induced plasma atomic emission spectrometry detection. The validity of the new procedure is shown by the results of analyses of certified reference materials.

Experimental design of a microwave-assisted extraction-derivatization method for the analysis of methylmercury

A simultaneous microwave-assisted extraction-derivatization procedure was developed and optimized for methylmercury analysis from biological samples. The analyte was derivatized with sodium tetraphenylborate forming a more hydrophobic compound, methylphenylmercury, which was extractable in toluene. The microwave extraction-derivatization procedure was optimized using experimental design, 2(5-1) fractional factorial. This chemometrical approach considers main effects as well as interactions of the influential parameters, indicating that temperature and its interaction with NaBPh4 and acetic acid volumes were the variables that significantly affected methylmercury recoveries.

Application of chromatographic and electrophoretic methodology to the speciation of organomercury compounds in food analysis

Trace metals such as mercury, especially its organic compounds, are an important risk to the environment and to man due to their accumulation in the food chain. For this reason, the routine determination of the very toxic methylmercury, and of other organic and inorganic mercury compounds in marine and land animals, vegetables, fruits and fresh water is of increasing importance in health and environmental control programmes throughout the world. The majority of speciation methods for organomercurials involve a series of fundamental steps for the identification and quantification of samples of biological origin: extraction or isolation from the matrix; derivatisation and concentration; detection; separation of different species of interest and of interference. Each of these steps, as part of the chromatographic analysis of MeHg and of other organomercurials is revised in this study using food samples.