Speciation of butyltin compounds in marine sediments by preconcentration on C60 and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

A new method for the speciation of butyltin compounds by solid phase extraction and direct injection using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is described. The compounds were complexed with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate and retained on a C60 sorbent column. The neutral chelates of butyltin compounds were eluted with ethyl acetate containing NaBPr4 as derivatising reagent. The main analytical figures of merit of the proposed method for 10 ml of sample are: linear range 0.2–35 ng/g expressed as Sn; limits of detection, 0.07, 0.09 and 0.10 ng/g as Sn for monobutyltin, dibutyltin and tributyltin, respectively. No interferences from metal ions such as Zn2+, Fe3+, Sb3+, Pb2+, Ni2+ and Mn2+ were observed in the determination of organotin compounds. The validation of method was performed out by the analysis of a standard reference sediment (CRM 462). The method was also applied to the determination of butyltin compounds in marine sediment samples.