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Abstract
An extraction method is proposed in order to evaluate mercury species in biological samples (e.g. fish, mushrooms). Sulphur-containing ligands have been considered and thiourea was chosen for the optimised extraction procedure according to the best recovery obtained (65.9%, 75.8%, 47.1% and 98.2% for CH3Hg+ C2H5Hg+, C6H5Hg+ and Hg2+ respectively) and the chromatographic performance. Thiourea solutions added to biological samples enabled extraction of organomercury species; the influence of reaction time and recovery yields were evaluated. The proposed procedure, coupled with an on-line preconcentration step, allows to reduce contamination problems and to obtain detection limits at ng/g levels. The method has been evaluate with reference materials (BCR).