Cf. Harrington et al., THE SPECIATION OF MERCURY AND ORGANOMERCURY COMPOUNDS BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE IONIZATION MASS-SPECTROMETRY, Rapid communications in mass spectrometry, 12(14), 1998, pp. 911-916
A method for the structural confirmation of mercury (II) chloride and
organomercury (II) chlorides (monomethylmercury chloride, monoethylmer
cury chloride and monophenylmercury chloride) employing liquid chromat
ography coupled to atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry w
as developed. The chromatographic system comprised a Kromasil 100-5C18
, 5 mu m (250 x 4.6 mm) column and a mobile phase of 2-mercaptoethanol
(0.01% v/v) in methanol: water (1:1 v/v), at a flow rate of 1 mL min(
-1). The optimization of the API-MS conditions is discussed, together
with the fragmentation patterns observed for standards. No peaks due t
o the molecular ion were present and the most intense peaks were due t
o [M + mercaptoethanol](+) or [M + 2 mercaptoethanol - H](+). The qual
itative analysis of fish tissue spiked with methylmercury (II) chlorid
e, using selected ion monitoring (SIM), is discussed. (C) 1998 LGC (Te
ddington) Ltd.