Abstract
Due to the impact of organotin compounds in the environment, a necessity exists for a rapid, sensitive and accurate analytical method to determine the levels of the compounds in the different environmental components. A variety of analytical techniques has been developed for the speciation of organotin compounds. Most of them are based on gas chromatography (GC) connected with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), flame photometry (FPD), mass spectrometry (MS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP) or microwave-induced plasma atomic emision spectrometry (MIP-AES). Since GC requires volatility of analytes, their derivatization into volatile species is usually indispensable. Direct GC of organotin halides without derivatization, however, could offer a highly selective and sensitive analytical technique for the trace determination at the level of less than ng l-1 in aquatic samples. As an alternative approach, high performance liquid chromatography, has become a popular technique. It mainly uses AAS, ICP-MS and fluorometry for the eluate detection. ICP-MS has been applied practically because of its inherent selectivity and sensitivity.
