One-Pot Fabrication of Functional Magnetic Adsorbent for Efficient Capture of Mercury Species in Aqueous Samples Prior to HPLC Analysis

Efficient extraction is a vital step in mercury speciation. In this context, using 4-vinylbenzeneboronic acid and 9-vinylanthracene as functional monomers, a new magnetic adsorbent was fabricated accord-ing to one-pot hydrothermal approach. Various characterization results prove the as-prepared adsorbent presented abundant functional groups and saturation magnetism. Combining with magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE), the adsorbent exhibited satisfactory entrapment performance towards different mer-cury species which had been pre-coordinated with dithizone to form metal-organic coordination. A series of parameters influencing the extraction performance were inspected in detail. Under the most beneficial conditions, sensitive and reliable approach to quantify trace methylmercury, ethylmercury, phenylmer-cury and inorganic mercury in aqueous samples was developed by the combination of HPLC/DAD. Limits of detection and precision located in the ranges of 0.012-0.074 mu g/L and 2.5-9.8%, respectively. Recoveries with low, medium and high fortified contents in actual waters varied from 79.8 to 119%. Confirmatory ex-periments were performed to evidence the accuracy and reliability of established approach. In addition, a possible mechanism was suggested based on the chemical nature of analytes, extraction conditions and characterization results.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.