DETERMINATION OF INORGANIC AND TOTAL MERCURY IN BIOLOGICAL TISSUES BYELECTROTHERMAL VAPORIZATION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

A rapid method for the determination of total and inorganic mercury in biological tissues is presented using electrothermal vaporization ind uctively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ETV ICP-MS), Samples were s olubilized using tetramethylammonium hydroxide,For the determination o f total mercury sample aliquots (10 mu l) are dried and vaporized into the plasma, For the determination of inorganic mercury, iodoacetic ac id, sodium thiosulfate and acetic acid are added to the sample, cleavi ng the methylmercury from the tissue, Volatile methylmercury iodide is formed and removed from the ETV as the sample dries, leaving only ino rganic mercury to be quantified, A limit of detection of 0.05 mu g g(- 1) in solid samples was obtained, National Research Council of Canada reference materials DORM-2 (dogfish muscle), DOLT-2 (dogfish liver) an d TORT-2 (lobster hepatopancreas) were used to assess the accuracy of the method.