title: Improvements in the methylmercury extraction from human hair by headspace solid-phase microextraction followed by gas-chromatography cold-vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry.
abstract: Improvements in the methylmercury extraction from human hair by solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography coupled to cold-vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry (GC-CVAFS) have been carried out. They consisted in the optimisation of the digestion step prior to the aqueous-phase ethylation and in the GC-CVAFS interface set-up. The main digestion parameters such as acid type, concentration, temperature and time have been optimised for hair sample analysis, thereby avoiding methylmercury degradation. Moreover, the stability of the digested samples was evaluated to improve the sample throughput.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Chemistry Department, IIQAB-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Montuori
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jover
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alzaga
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diez
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bayona
mesh_terms: D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods*; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008767:Methylmercury Compounds