Determination of mercury compounds by capillary electrophoresis inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with microconcentric nebulization

A preliminary study of a microconcentric nebulizer (MCN) as the sample intr oduction device for the capillary electrophoresis inductively coupled plasm a mass spectrometry (CE-ICP-MS) system for mercury speciation application i s described. Samples containing ionic mercury compounds were subjected to e lectrophoretic separation before injection into the microconcentric nebuliz er. The species studied include inorganic mercury (Hg(II)), methyl mercury (CH3-Hg) and ethyl mercury (C2H5-Hg). The sensitivity, detection limit and repeatability of the CE-ICP-MS system with a microconcentric nebulizer were comparable to CE-ICP-MS system with other nebulization techniques of vario us metal speciation studies. Reproducibility of peak height and migration t ime was better than 3 and 2%, respectively. The limits of detection for var ious mercury species were in the range of 0.08-0.17 mu g ml(-1) Hg based on peak height. We determined the concentrations of mercury compound in conta ct lenses solutions purchased from the local market. The precision between sample replicates was better than 7% with CE-MCN-ICP-MS method. (C) 2000 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.