Speciation of organomercurials in biological and environmental samples by gas chromatography with microwave-induced plasma atomic emission detection.

The applicability of a commercial microwave-induced plasma atomic emission detector with capillary gas chromatography for mercury speciation in environmental samples was examined. The chromatographic conditions were optimized in order to obtain an adequate resolution of the methylmercury peak vs. interfering carbon signals. Under the proposed operational conditions, the detection limit (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) was 1.2 pg with a linear range of 1-40 ng ml-1 (as methylmercury in samples). Certified reference material (DORM-1) was used to evaluate the accuracy. The results of the proposed procedure were compared with those obtained by means of the usual GC method with electron-capture detection.