Speciation of tin by reversed phase liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric detection

An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) coupled with ultrasonic nebulization was used as a liquid chromatographic detector for the determination of tin compounds. Inorganic tin, trimethyltin, triethyltin, tripropyltin, tributyltin, and triphenyltin were separated by reversed phase liquid chromatography. The separation was complete in less than 6 min. Detection limits were in the range of 2.8–16 pg Sn for various tin species. The relative standard deviation of the peak areas for five injections of 50 μg 1−1 organotin mixture was in the range of 6–9%. This method has been applied to determine various tin species in harbour sediment reference sample PACS-1 and harbour water sample.