Analytical Sciences

UV Irradiation Controlled Cold Vapor Generation Using SnCl₂ as Reductant for Mercury Speciation

Haimin LI,* Yong ZHANG,* Chengbin ZHENG,** Li WU,*** Yi LV,** and Xiandeng HOU***

*College of Materials and Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
**College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
***Analytical & Testing Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China

A simple and ultrasensitive method, which was based on cold vapor generation (CVG) coupled to atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS), was proposed for speciation analysis of inorganic mercury (Hg²⁺) and methylmercury (MeHg) in water samples. In the presence of UV irradiation, all the mercury (MeHg + Hg²⁺) in a sample solution can be reduced to Hg⁰ by SnCl₂; without UV irradiation, only Hg²⁺ species can be determined. So the concentration of MeHg can be obtained from the difference of the total mercury and Hg²⁺ concentration; thus, speciation analysis of Hg²⁺ and MeHg was simply achieved without chromatographic separation. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the limits of detection were 0.01 ng mL^-1 for both Hg²⁺ and MeHg. The sensitivity and limit of detection were not dependent on the mercury species, and a simple Hg²⁺ aqueous standard series can be used for the determination of both Hg²⁺ and MeHg.

J-STAGE: View this article in J-STAGE