Determination of mercury species in seafood by liquid chrom tography - inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LC-ICP-MS)

Abstract

Liquid chromatography hyphenated with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LC­ICP­MS) was investigated to simultaneously determine three mercury species (mercury methyl mercury and ethyl mercury) in seafood samples. Important parameters such as organic solvents, flow rate of the mobile phase, 2­mercaptoethanol concentration, extraction time and temperature were optimized. The method was validated in term of the limit of detection, limit of quantitation, repeatability, and recovery meeting the AOAC performance requirements. The method has also been validated based on the analysis of certified standard samples DORM­4, then applied to determine three mercury species in 30 seafood samples. Results showed that the content of mercury species was below the maximum limit according to the QCVN 8­2 : 2011/BYT.