Organotin compounds have a great many applications which include stabilizers, catalysts, biocides, and pesticides. One of the more significant uses was that of biocides employed as anti-fouling paint on sea-going vessels which has contributed to coastline contamination throughout the world. Although their use as a biocide in anti-fouling paint was completely banned in 2008, residual contamination is still present in water and sediment. Organotins are also significant in the plastics industry because they are used in place of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. They are an important heat stabilizer additive in the manufacture of PVC.
Organotins have been found to bio accumulate and cause a number of health related problems including being a possible endocrine disrupting compound. Many laboratories are faced with requests for organotin analysis as public awareness of the toxicity of these compounds grows. Presently their use is strongly regulated because of the high degree of toxicity. At this time, there is no EPA accepted method for this analysis and many labs pass up work or subcontract the analysis to one of the few labs that analyze for organotin because they are under the impression that it would be a significant capital expense and take a great deal of expertise to successfully run the analysis.
The purpose of this paper is to present a sensitive, selective method which may easily be incorporated into laboratories day-to-day analyses. The PFPD offers ppb sensitivity along with great selectivity for tin versus hydrocarbons. The derivatization procedure using sodium tetraethylborate alkylation for the standards, optimum GC-PFPD conditions, and calibration data will be presented. Sample data for blood plasma, urine, wastewater, and dewatered sludge will also be presented.
