The Application and Potential Artifacts of Zeeman Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry in Mercury Stable Isotope Analysis

Lu, Xia; Zhao, Jiangtao; Liang, Xujun; Zhang, Lijie; Liu, Yurong; Yin, Xiangping; Li, Xiangkai; Gu, Baohua

doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.9b00067

The Application and Potential Artifacts of Zeeman Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry in Mercury Stable Isotope Analysis

Journal Article · Thu Feb 07 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Environmental Science & Technology Letters (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.9b00067· OSTI ID:1502555

^[1]; Zhao, Jiangtao ^[2]; Liang, Xujun ^[3]; Zhang, Lijie ^[3]; ^[3]; ^[3]; ^[2]; ^[4]

Lanzhou Univ., Lanzhou (China); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Lanzhou Univ., Lanzhou (China)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Zeeman cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) has been widely used for environmental mercury (Hg) detection and quantification for decades, but little is known about its utility and potential artifacts in analyzing Hg with varying isotope compositions. We show that each Hg isotope responds differently by CVAAS analysis, with ²⁰⁰Hg and ²⁰²Hg isotopes exhibiting signal intensities ~10 times greater than those of ¹⁹⁸Hg and ²⁰¹Hg isotopes. However, all Hg isotopes show a linear correlation between Hg concentration and signal intensity, validated by both measurements and theoretical simulations. Zeeman CVAAS could thus offer a convenient, inexpensive tool for determining Hg isotopes, particularly in using one or two enriched Hg isotopes for tracing Hg biogeochemical transformations, such as partitioning, ion exchange, sorption–desorption, and methylation–demethylation in environmental matrices. Additionally, we caution that care must be taken when CVAAS is used for quantifying Hg in samples with changing isotope compositions to avoid measurement errors.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1502555

Journal Information:: Environmental Science & Technology Letters (Online), Journal Name: Environmental Science & Technology Letters (Online) Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 6; ISSN 2328-8930

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (24)

Application of Mercury Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry to the Characterization of Mercury-Accessible −SH Groups in Native Proteins Bramanti, Emilia; D'Ulivo, Alessandro; Lampugnani, Leonardo Analytical Biochemistry, Vol. 274, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1006/abio.1999.4257	journal	October 1999
New Zeeman atomic absorption spectroscopy approach for mercury isotope analysis Ganeyev, A. A.; Sholupov, S. E. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, Vol. 47, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(92)80122-W	journal	October 1992
Zeeman atomic absorption spectrometry using high frequency modulated light polarization Sholupov, S. E.; Ganeyev, A. A. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, Vol. 50, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1016/0584-8547(95)01316-7	journal	September 1995
Determination of volatile mercury species at the picogram level by low-temperature gas chromatography with cold-vapour atomic fluorescence detection Bloom, Nicolas; Fitzgerald, William F. Analytica Chimica Acta, Vol. 208 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-2670(00)80743-6	journal	January 1988
Selective extractions to assess the biogeochemically relevant fractionation of inorganic mercury in sediments and soils Bloom, Nicolas S.; Preus, Eve; Katon, Jodie Analytica Chimica Acta, Vol. 479, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-2670(02)01550-7	journal	March 2003
History of mercury use and environmental contamination at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant Brooks, Scott C.; Southworth, George R. Environmental Pollution, Vol. 159, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2010.09.009	journal	January 2011
Characterization of soils from an industrial complex contaminated with elemental mercury Miller, Carrie L.; Watson, David B.; Lester, Brian P. Environmental Research, Vol. 125 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2013.03.013	journal	August 2013
Determination of total mercury in fish and sea products by direct thermal decomposition atomic absorption spectrometry Panichev, N. A.; Panicheva, S. E. Food Chemistry, Vol. 166 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.06.032	journal	January 2015
Evaluating the role of re-adsorption of dissolved Hg2+ during cinnabar dissolution using isotope tracer technique Jiang, Ping; Li, Yanbin; Liu, Guangliang Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol. 317 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.05.084	journal	November 2016
Periphyton Biofilms Influence Net Methylmercury Production in an Industrially Contaminated System Olsen, Todd A.; Brandt, Craig C.; Brooks, Scott C. Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 50, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b01538	journal	September 2016
Effects of Cellular Sorption on Mercury Bioavailability and Methylmercury Production by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 Liu, Yu-Rong; Lu, Xia; Zhao, Linduo Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 50, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04041	journal	November 2016
Contrasting Effects of Dissolved Organic Matter on Mercury Methylation by Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 Zhao, Linduo; Chen, Hongmei; Lu, Xia Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 51, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b02518	journal	August 2017
Nanomolar Copper Enhances Mercury Methylation by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 Lu, Xia; Johs, Alexander; Zhao, Linduo Environmental Science & Technology Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.8b00232	journal	May 2018
Reactivity and Mobility of New and Old Mercury Deposition in a Boreal Forest Ecosystem during the First Year of the METAALICUS Study Hintelmann, Holger; Harris, Reed; Heyes, Andrew Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 36, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1021/es025572t	journal	December 2002
Mercury Methylation Rates for Geochemically Relevant Hg ^II Species in Sediments Jonsson, Sofi; Skyllberg, Ulf; Nilsson, Mats B. Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 46, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1021/es3015327	journal	October 2012
Coupled Mercury–Cell Sorption, Reduction, and Oxidation on Methylmercury Production by Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA Lin, Hui; Morrell-Falvey, Jennifer L.; Rao, Balaji Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/es502537a	journal	October 2014
Kinetic Controls on the Complexation between Mercury and Dissolved Organic Matter in a Contaminated Environment Miller, Carrie L.; Southworth, George; Brooks, Scott Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 43, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1021/es901891t	journal	November 2009
Differentiated availability of geochemical mercury pools controls methylmercury levels in estuarine sediment and biota Jonsson, Sofi; Skyllberg, Ulf; Nilsson, Mats B. Nature Communications, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5624	journal	August 2014
Oxidation and methylation of dissolved elemental mercury by anaerobic bacteria Hu, Haiyan; Lin, Hui; Zheng, Wang Nature Geoscience, Vol. 6, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1894	journal	August 2013
Isotope‐shift Zeeman effect for trace‐element detection: an application of atomic physics to environmental problems Hadeishi, Tetsuo Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 21, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1654447	journal	November 1972
Roles of dissolved organic matter in the speciation of mercury and methylmercury in a contaminated ecosystem in Oak Ridge, Tennessee Dong, Wenming; Liang, Liyuan; Brooks, Scott Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1071/EN09091	journal	January 2010
Whole-ecosystem study shows rapid fish-mercury response to changes in mercury deposition Harris, R. C.; Rudd, J. W. M.; Amyot, M. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 104, Issue 42 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0704186104	journal	September 2007
Mercury reduction and complexation by natural organic matter in anoxic environments Gu, B.; Bian, Y.; Miller, C. L. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 108, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1008747108	journal	January 2011
Methylmercury uptake and degradation by methanotrophs Lu, Xia; Gu, Wenyu; Zhao, Linduo Science Advances, Vol. 3, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700041	journal	May 2017

Cited By (1)

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Nanozyme Based Detection of Heavy Metal Ions and its Challenges: A Minireview Unnikrishnan, Binesh; Lien, Chia-Wen; Huang, Chih-Ching Journal of Analysis and Testing, Vol. 3, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41664-019-00110-2	journal	July 2019

Similar Records

Exploratory Research: Mercury Stable Isotopes as Indicators of the Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury (Final Project Report)

Technical Report · Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · OSTI ID:1047186

PRIMARY PROCESSES IN REACTIONS INITIATED BY PHOTOEXCITED MERCURY ISOTOPES

Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1957 · Canadian Journal of Chemistry (Canada) · OSTI ID:4334955

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS

The Application and Potential Artifacts of Zeeman Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry in Mercury Stable Isotope Analysis

Citation Formats

References (24)

Cited By (1)

Similar Records

Related Subjects