THE BEHAVIOR OF DIFFERENT ORGANOMETALLIC COMPOUNDS IN THE PRESENCE OFINORGANIC MERCURY(II) - TRANSALKYLATION OF MERCURY SPECIES AND THEIR ANALYSIS BY THE GC-MIP-PED SYSTEM

It is shown that four different mercury species are formed by the abio tic reaction of inorganic mercury with different, ecologically relevan t, organolead and organoarsenic compounds, Therefore solutions of tetr aethyl-lead, trimethyl-lead chloride and dimethylarsonic acid were pre pared and mixed with stock solutions of inorganic mercury at different concentrations, The final solutions were analyzed for their content o f newly synthesized mercury species, The analysis was carried out by u sing a system of solid-phase microextraction (SPME): capillary gas chr omatography (GC), microwave-induced plasma (MIP) and a plasma-emission detector (FED), We found that transfer of one or two alkyl groups to the inorganic mercury is possible under the conditions mentioned below , The transalkylation rate depends on the kind of organometallic compo und and on the pH. The results were confirmed by the reaction with ino rganic mercury and analysis of a soil sample, containing tetraethyl-le ad and trimethyl-lead, in which not only the monoalkyl compound, but a lso the dialkylated compound of the relevant inorganic metal, were fou nd. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.