Determination of mercury in aquatic ecosystems

Small concentrations of mercury are determined by the example of the quantitative recovery of a toxicant from snow water in a segregating system with no organic solvent (water-antipyrine-sulfosalicic acid). The organic component of the system in situ forming as a result of acid-base interactions was used in microliter amounts to modify a graphite indicator electrode and register an analytical signal of mercury. The reliability of the results of voltammetric determination was checked by the independent cold vapor method. Organic components obtained by segregation were used to extract mercury from the conservative ecosystem component, solid snow particles, snow water preconcentrated with a membrane filter, river suspensions from surface water and floodplain soils, and also fish samples. The characteristic features of mercury extraction with a mixture if mineral acids and the liquid organic component of a segregating system with no organic solvent are discussed.