Fumigant methyl iodide can methylate inorganic mercury species in natural waters

Yongguang Yin, Yanbin Li, Chao Tai, Yong Cai () and Guibin Jiang ()
Additional contact information
Yongguang Yin: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 18, Shuangqing Road, Haidian, Beijing 100085, China
Yanbin Li: Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China
Chao Tai: Florida International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199, USA
Yong Cai: Florida International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199, USA
Guibin Jiang: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 18, Shuangqing Road, Haidian, Beijing 100085, China

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Methyl iodide or iodomethane (CH3I) has recently been registered as a fumigant in many countries, although its environmental impacts are not well understood. Here we report the results of a study on the methylation of mercury by CH3I in natural water by incubation experiments using both Hg (199HgCl2 and )- and hydrogen (CD3I)-stable isotope addition techniques. We find that methylation of Hg0, and Hg2+ by CH3I can occur in natural water under sunlight, while only Hg0 and can be methylated in deionized water. We propose that the methylation of Hg by CH3I in natural waters is mediated by sunlight and involves two steps, the reduction of Hg2+ to Hg0/ and the subsequent methylation of Hg0/ by CH3I. Further quantitative assessment suggests that CH3I-involved methylation of inorganic Hg could be an important source of CH3Hg+ in an environment where CH3I has been used in large amounts as a fumigant.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5633 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5633

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5633

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().