Zeeman cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) has been widely used for environmental mercury (Hg) detection and quantification for decades, but little is known about its utility and potential artifacts in analyzing Hg with varying isotope compositions. We show that each Hg isotope responds differently by CVAAS analysis, with ²⁰⁰Hg and ²⁰²Hg isotopes exhibiting signal intensities ∼10 times greater than those of ¹⁹⁸Hg and ²⁰¹Hg isotopes. However, all Hg isotopes show a linear correlation between Hg concentration and signal intensity, validated by both measurements and theoretical simulations. Zeeman CVAAS could thus offer a convenient, inexpensive tool for determining Hg isotopes, particularly in using one or two enriched Hg isotopes for tracing Hg biogeochemical transformations, such as partitioning, ion exchange, sorption–desorption, and methylation–demethylation in environmental matrices. We also caution that care must be taken when CVAAS is used for quantifying Hg in samples with changing isotope compositions to avoid measurement errors.

中文翻译：

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塞曼冷蒸气原子吸收光谱法在汞稳定同位素分析中的应用及潜在伪像

塞曼冷蒸气原子吸收光谱法（CVAAS）几十年来已广泛用于环境汞（Hg）的检测和定量，但对于其在分析具有不同同位素组成的Hg中的效用和潜在伪影知之甚少。我们通过CVAAS分析表明，每种汞同位素的反应都不同，其中²⁰⁰ Hg和²⁰² Hg同位素的信号强度比¹⁹⁸ Hg和^201的信号强度大10倍左右汞同位素。但是，所有的汞同位素都显示出汞浓度与信号强度之间的线性相关性，这已通过测量和理论模拟得到了验证。因此，Zeeman CVAAS可以提供​​一种便捷，廉价的测定汞同位素的工具，特别是在使用一种或两种富集的汞同位素来追踪汞生物地球化学转变时，例如环境基质中的分配，离子交换，吸附-解吸和甲基化-脱甲基。我们还提醒您，当使用CVAAS对同位素组成变化的样品中的Hg进行定量时，必须小心，以避免测量误差。