Speciation of methyl- and butyltin compounds and inorganic tin in oysters by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

Because of the toxicity of tributyltin originating from many antifouling marine paints, there is much concern about its effect on aquatic life and, particularly, on shellfish. This paper describes speciation of inorganic tin, methyltin compounds, and butyltin compounds from oyster samples. The authors validated the hydride generation atomic absorption spectrophotometric technique by demonstrating ca. 100% recovery from spiked samples and by the absence of any organotin decomposition products. Absolute detection limits (3sigma) are 1.1-2.5 ng for 0.1-g oyster samples (wet weight). This method is superior to published techniques because of careful validation, low limits of detection, and minimal sample manipulation.