Speciation of Organotin Compounds in Environmental Samples

Speciation of metalorganic compounds is one the challenging problems in today’s environmental analytical chemistry. Our work focuses on organotin compounds, especially mono-, di- and tributyltin. The use of these compounds as antifouling agents, fungicides, insecticides and bactericides has increased dramatically over the last 30 years. Nowadays, due to the rising awareness of their ecological toxicity, they are about to be banned from all applications. But they are still persistent in seawater, animal tissue or sediment and toxic, even in small concentrations.
To asses the risks arising from these sources, sophisticated instrumental techniques have to be applied to acquire proper data.
In this project we focus on the development of modern sample preparation techniques like microwave assisted extraction or derivatisation, the investigation and optimisation of standard technologies with the intention to create new and robust methods of sample preparation. These new methods of sample preparation are also demanding new answers for detection, which is presently given by coupling chromatographic devices (GC or LC) to element selective detectors, namely ICP-MS, one of the most powerful detection methods in inorganic trace analysis.