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Environmental problems - Chemical approaches
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Speciation analysis of iodine in seaweed: optimisation of extraction procedure and chromatographic separation

Ana Jerše https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5476-0190 A B , Heidi Amlund https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2471-3676 A , Susan L. Holdt https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6888-782X A and Jens J. Sloth https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3636-8769 A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kemitorvet, Building 201, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.

B Present address: Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Hacquetova ulica 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.

* Correspondence to: jjsl@food.dtu.dk

Handling Editor: Joerg Feldmann

Environmental Chemistry - https://doi.org/10.1071/EN22133
Submitted: 9 December 2022  Accepted: 17 April 2023   Published online: 4 May 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.

Environmental context. Seaweed is a good natural dietary source of iodine and some types of seaweed are rich in iodine. Iodine has a diverse chemistry in seaweeds and may exist as different chemical species; however, the occurrence and identity of the individual species are still not fully elucidated. Hence, development of sensitive and selective iodine speciation methods for studies of iodine chemistry and biotransformation in seaweeds are needed.

Rationale. Iodine is an essential element required for human health and metabolism. Seafood and especially seaweed can accumulate iodine to high amounts. Iodine may exist in different chemical forms (species) in seaweeds.

Methodology. The present study describes the development and optimisation of a method for iodine speciation analysis in seaweed based on high performance liquid chromatography–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS). The extraction procedure was conducted in two steps, pancreatic enzymatic extraction followed by alkaline extraction with tetramethylammonium hydroxide for optimum extraction efficiency without compromising species integrity.

Results and discussion. Total iodine and iodine species were determined in a range of brown (6 samples), red (6 samples) and green (3 samples) seaweeds. A large variation in the total iodine content of the different seaweeds was observed (33–5611 µg g–1 dry weight) with the highest levels encountered in brown seaweed. Iodine speciation analysis revealed differences in the speciation profile of the different types of seaweed. In all seaweeds iodide was the predominant species, and minor contents of MIT (monoiodotyrosine) and DIT (diiodotyrosine) were found in most seaweeds. Furthermore, peaks originating from six unknown iodine-containing species were observed in the chromatograms, especially in red and green seaweeds, while less abundant in brown seaweeds. The speciation method presented here will be valuable in future studies on iodine speciation in seaweed and an important tool for the investigation of iodine speciation and biotransformation in marine algae.

Keywords: alkaline extraction, DIT, enzymatic extraction, HPLC-ICPMS, iodide, macroalgae, MIT, total iodine.


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