title: UV irradiation controlled cold vapor generation using SnCl2 as reductant for mercury speciation.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: College of Materials and Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, China.
authors.forename: Haimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chengbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Xiandeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hou