Development of a tetra-elemental speciation method for simultaneously quantifying Cd, Sn, Hg, and Pb compounds in shrimp and fish by high-performance liquid chromatography–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Cadmium, tin, mercury, and lead are four widespread metals in our environment from natural sources and human activities, and their toxic, metabolic, and bioavailable properties are chemical form-dependent. Considering large sample capacity in food, environmental and related fields, efficient, sensitive, inexpensive, and green methodologies are preferred for quantifying cadmium, tin, mercury, and lead compounds in an analytical trial. Herein we proposed a tetra-elemental method for simultaneous measurement of Cd, Sn, Hg, and Pb compounds by interfacing high-performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The tetra-elemental method measured 12 metal compounds within 24 min in satisfactory precisions (<4.3 %) and low detection limits (0.022, 0.011–0.15, 0.016–0.028, and 0.013–0.021 μg L −1 for Cd(II), five tin compounds, three mercury compounds, and three lead compounds, respectively). By applying the proposed tetra-elemental speciation method to shrimp and fish, we found Cd(II) (0.043 mg kg −1 ) presented only in shrimp and methylmercury (0.8–4.6 μg kg −1 ) in both shrimp and fish with the absence of all targeted Sn and Pb compounds, which were far below the maximum limits by China GB 2762-2022. Overall, the proposed method offered significant advantages in analytical, economic and environmental aspects with good applicability to a wide range of food, environmental, and biological samples.