Speciation analysis of mercury in seawater from the lagoon of Venice by on-line pre-concentration HPLC–ICP-MS

A method based on the coupling of HPLC with ICP-MS with an on-line pre-concentration micro-column has been developed for the analysis of inorganic and methyl mercury in the dissolved phase of natural waters. This method allows the rapid pre-concentration and matrix removal of interferences in complex matrices such as seawater with minimal sampling handling. Detection limits of 0.07 ng L−1 for inorganic mercury and 0.02 ng L−1 for methyl mercury have been achieved allowing the determination of inorganic mercury and methyl mercury in filtered seawater from the Venice lagoon. Good accuracy and reproducibility was demonstrated by the repeat analysis of the certified reference material BCR-579 coastal seawater. The developed HPLC separation was shown to be also suitable for the determination of methyl mercury in extracts of the particulate phase.