Speciation and determination of mercury by various analytical techniques

Abstract

Mercury is one of the most important metals to environmental researchers due to its toxicity. In recent years, many authors determined the concentration of mercury and its different forms in the environment, such as soil, water, atmosphere and biota, with various analytical techniques, such as atomic absorption spectrometry, spectrophotometry, voltammetry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, spectrofluorometry and chromatography. The objective of this paper is to summarize the recent understanding of the available techniques for the analysis and speciation of mercury in environmental and biological samples reported worldwide during 2010–2011. We tabulated all the analytical parameters of about 129 research papers published in reputable international journals during 2010–2011 about mercury determination and speciation studies.

Keywords

• analytical methods
• environmental and biological samples
• mercury
• methylmercury