Liquid Chromatographic determination of triphenyltin and tributyltin using fluorimetric detection

The use of 3,3ʹ,4ʹ,7-tetrahydroxyflavone (fisetin) as a post-column fluorogenic reagent in the determination of tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPhT) by liquid chromatography is reported. TBT and TPhT can be separated on a cation-exchange column using methanol—water (80:20) containing 0.15 M ammonium acetate as mobile phase. The detection limits, for 200 μl of sample injected, are 0.03 and 0.9 ng Sn for TPhT and TBT, respectively. The method has been applied to the determination of both triorganotin compounds in harbour water and sediments.