Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry

Review Article

Recent Developments in the Speciation and Determination of Mercury Using Various Analytical Techniques

Table 4

Analytical parameters of reviewed research papers about the speciation and determination of mercury by miscellaneous techniques.


S. number	Analyte	Analytical instrument used for the detection	Method	Limit of detection (LOD)^#	Linearity range	Analyzed samples	Interference study	Supporting media	Reference

1	Speciation	Continuous mercury analyzer	Thermal desorption	—	—	Solid samples (fly ash)	—	—	[118]

2	GEM	Portable mercury analyzer	—	—	—	Atmosphere	—	—	[119]

3	Hg(II)	SERS¹	—	2.24 × 10⁻¹² M	0.001–0.5 ng mL⁻¹	Drinking water samples	Selective in presence of Zn²⁺, Mg²⁺, Fe³⁺, Cu²⁺, Pb²⁺, and Mn²⁺	Gold nanoparticles	[120]

4	Hg(II)	HPLC	SPE	1.99 × 10⁻¹⁰–4.48 × 10⁻⁹ M	2.7–300 μg L⁻¹	Water samples	Simultaneously Ni²⁺, Co²⁺, and Hg²⁺ are determined	Carbon nanotubes	[121]

5	Hg(II)	SERS	—	0.1 × 10⁻⁹ M	0.1–1000 nM	Groundwater	Ag⁺ was also determined along with Hg²⁺ and K⁺, Cu²⁺, Ag⁺, Cr³⁺, Fe³⁺, , Ca²⁺, Co²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Zn²⁺ did not interfere	Oligonucleotide-functionalized magnetic silica sphere	[122]

6	Total Hg	AMA	Acid digestion	—	—	Eggs and blood of Eretmochelys imbricata	Along with mercury Cd, Cu, Zn, and Pb are also determined	—	[123]

7	Hg(II)	Luminescence spectrometer	Fluorescence	3.0–9.0 × 10⁻⁹ M	0.05–1.0 μM	Water samples	Fairly selective in presence of Ag⁺, Fe³⁺, Zn²⁺, Ca²⁺, Mn²⁺, Mg²⁺, Co²⁺, Pb²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Cu²⁺	Silver nanoclusters	[124]

8	Hg(II)	X-ray fluorescence spectrometer	Preconcentration	4.98 × 10⁻¹² M	Upto 20 mg L⁻¹	Drinking water	—	Activated carbon	[125]

9	Total Hg	DMA		0.14 ng	—	Particulate matter	—	GF/C filters	[126]

10	MeHg and EtHg	HPLC	Chemiluminescence	0.16 ng g⁻¹	0.5–20 ng Hg	Soil and sediment samples	Back extraction and another chemical process make the method selective for MeHg and EtHg	Emetine dithiocarbamate	[127]

11	Total Hg	CV-CCPM-OES²	Microwave digestion	2.39 × 10⁻¹¹ M	0.27–55 mg kg⁻¹	Soil samples	—	—	[128]

12	Hg(II)	Chemodosimeter	Fluorescence	1.71 × 10⁻⁹ M	1.0 × 10⁻⁷–1.0 × 10⁻⁶ M	Blood serum of mice	—	Rhodamine	[129]

13	Hg(0)	XRF	Acid digestion	9.97 × 10⁻⁸ M	—	Soils from industrial complex	—	—	[130]

14	Total Hg	DMA	Combustion	0.12 ng	0.5–5 ng	Soil and leaf samples	—	—	[131]

15	MeHg and Hg(II)	GC-MS	Matrix solid-phase dispersion	0.06 (MeHg) and 0.12 (Hg(II)) μg/g	—	Tuna fish, angel shark, and guitarfish	—	—	[132]

16	GEM	—	Concentration-weighted trajectory model	—	—	Particulate matter	—	QFF	[133]

For the conversion of limit of detection values into moles per liter (M) the atomic weight of Hg is taken as 200.59 g, MeHg as 215.59 g, EtHg as 229.59 g, and PhHg as 277.59 g.
¹SERS: surface enhanced Raman scattering; ²CV-CCPM-OES: cold-vapor capacitively coupled plasma microtorch fluorescence spectrometry.
Analytical instruments: HPLC: high performance liquid chromatography; AMA: automatic mercury analyzer; DMA: direct mercury analyzer; XRF: X-ray fluorescence.