Determination of picomolar levels of methylmercury complexes with low molecular mass thiols by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and online preconcentration

Methylmercury (MeHg) is one of the most potent neurotoxins. It is produced in nature through the methylation of inorganic divalent mercury (Hg(II)) by phylogenetically diverse anaerobic microbes. The mechanistic understanding of the processes that govern the extent of bacterial export of MeHg, its bioaccumulation, and bio-toxicity depends on accurate quantification of its species, especially its complexation with low molecular mass thiols; organometallic complexes that are difficult to detect and measure in natural conditions. Here, we report the development of a novel analytical method based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to determine 13 MeHg complexes with important thiol compounds which have been observed in the environment and in biological systems. By using online preconcentration via solid phase extraction (SPE), the method offers picomolar (12–530 pM) detection limits, the lowest reported so far for the determination of MeHg compounds. Among three different SPE materials, a weak cation exchange phase showed the best efficiency at a low pH of 2.5. We further report the presence of MeHg-cysteine, MeHg-cysteamine, MeHg-penicillamine, MeHg-cysteinylglycine, and MeHg-glutamylcysteine as the predominant MeHg–thiol complexes in the extracellular milieu of an important Hg(II) methylating bacterium, Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA, exposed to 100 nM of Hg(II). ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00216-020-02389-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.