title: Mercury speciation in seafood samples by LC-ICP-MS with a rapid ultrasound-assisted extraction procedure: Application to the determination of mercury in Brazilian seafood samples.
abstract: This paper describes a simple method for mercury speciation in seafood samples by LC-ICP-MS with a fast sample preparation procedure. Prior to analysis, mercury species were extracted from food samples with a solution containing mercaptoethanol, l-cysteine and HCl and sonication for 15min. Separation of mercury species was accomplished in less than 5min on a C8 reverse phase column with a mobile phase containing 0.05%-v/v mercaptoethanol, 0.4%m/v l-cysteine and 0.06molL(-1) ammonium acetate. The method detection limits were found to be 0.25, 0.20 and 0.1ngg(-1) for inorganic mercury, ethylmercury and methylmercury, respectively. Method accuracy is traceable to Certified Reference Materials (DOLT-3 and DORM-3) from the National Research Council Canada (NRCC). With the proposed method there is a considerable reduction of the time of sample preparation. Finally, the method was applied for the speciation of mercury in seafood samples purchased from the Brazilian market.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Toxicologia e Essencialidade de Metais, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruno Lemos
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Batista
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Toxicologia e Essencialidade de Metais, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jairo L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Toxicologia e Essencialidade de Metais, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Samuel S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Toxicologia e Essencialidade de Metais, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vanessa C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Oliveira Souza
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Toxicologia e Essencialidade de Metais, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: fbarbosa@fcfrp.usp.br.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barbosa
keywords: Food samples; ICP-MS; Liquid chromatography; Mercury; Methylmercury; Sample preparation; Speciation