Analysis of organic Tin Compounds with Capillary GC-FPD

Introduction

Tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT) are used as antifouling coatings for ships and fishing nets. There is concern about their pollution of environmental water and fishery products, and their influence on human health. Also, they are suspected to have endocrine disruptive effects and interest in the analysis of these compounds has been growing. The analysis of alkylated organic tin compounds was introduced in Application News M182 “Analysis of TBT and TPT by GCMS”. This report discusses examples of TBT and TPT analysis by capillary GC- FPD. As in Application News M182, deuterium-labeled organic tin compounds (d-labeled compounds) are mixed with the alkylated sample. The quantification of tin compounds can be done by the external or internal standard method. Although the external standard method is a very simple quantification method, its quantification precision is somewhat lower than that of the internal standard method. The internal standard method features high quantification precision but involves complex operations, including the selection and addition of the internal standard material. When no particular quantification method should be designated, quantification method is based on importance of quantification precision or ease of operation. Organic tin compounds and d-labeled compounds can be separated on a chromatogram. However, as the retention time of the d-labeled compounds are close to those of the target compounds, quantification error may occur when resolution lowers due to column degradation or other reasons. Since the physicochemical characteristics of the d-label compounds are extremely similar to those of the target compounds, they can be used as excellent internal standard substances in GCMS analysis, where mass number data are available. However, in analyses where separation on the chromatogram is important like this GC analysis, tetrabutyltin (TeBT) and tripentyltin (TPeT) are often used as the internal standard substances.

October 17, 2002 GMT