Mercury Speciation in Fish by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Post-Column Ultraviolet (UV)-Photochemical Vapor Generation (PVG): Comparison of Conventional Line-Source and High-Resolution Continuum Source (HR-CS) Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS)

Abstract

An ultraviolet-photochemical generator (UV-PVG) capable of post-column on-line transformation of both organic and inorganic mercury species to cold vapor (Hg0) with subsequent detection by quartz tube-atomic absorption spectrometry (QT-AAS) was developed. Mercury(II), methylmercury(I), ethylmercury(I), and phenylmercury(I) were successfully detected after separation by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Two types of AAS detectors were compared. The first was a commonly used line-source instrument while the second was a high-resolution continuum source (HR-CS) AAS. The latter provided better limits of detection: 0.47 µg L−1 for Hg(II), 0.84 µg L−1 for methylmercury(I), 0.80 µg L−1 for ethylmercury(I), and 2.0 µg L−1 for phenylmercury(I). The repeatability at 30 μg L−1 was 3.6%, 4.1%, 6.2%, and 4.5% for these species (n = 10). These figures of merit were comparable with those reported for more sensitive atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Nine sample extraction procedures were investigated. Extraction by tetramethylammonium hydroxide and HCl at 75 °C was selected as the only method compatible with the proposed separation and detection steps providing high extraction efficiency and no changes in mercury speciation. The applicability of the proposed high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet-photochemical vapor generation–quartz tube-atomic absorption spectrometry method was demonstrated using fish samples and certified reference materials (CRM) DOLT-4 (dogfish liver) and ERM-CE464 (tuna fish). The results were comparable to those obtained by a reference method based on L-cysteine extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography–inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC–ICP-MS) determination.