Speciation of organotin compounds in marine biomaterials after basic leaching in a non-focused microwave extractor equipped with pressurized vessels

Development of the extraction method for the simultaneous determination of butyl-, phenyl- and octyltin compounds in sewage sludge

The toxicity and bioaccumulation of organotin compounds (OTCs) led to the development of sensitive and selective analytical methods for their determination. In the past much attention was assigned to the study of OTCs in biological samples, water and sediments, coming mostly from marine environment. Little information about OTCs pollution of terrestrial ecosystems is available. In order to optimise the extraction method for simultaneous determination of butyl-, phenyl- and octyltin compounds in sewage sludge five different extractants (tetramethylammonium hydroxide, HCl in methanol, glacial acetic acid, mixture of acetic acid and methanol (3:1), and mixture of acetic acid, methanol and water (1:1:1)), the presence or not of a complexing agent (tropolone), and the use of different modes of extraction (mechanical stirring, microwave and ultrasonic assisted extraction) were tested. Extracted OTCs were derivatised with sodium tetraethylborate and determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer. Quantitative extraction of butyl-, phenyl- and octyltin compounds was obtained by the use of glacial acetic acid as extractant and mechanical stirring for 16h or sonication for 30 min. The limits of detection and quantification for OTCs investigated in sewage sludge were in the ng S ng(-1) range.

Optimization of an analytical method for determining organotin compounds in fish tissue by base-hydrolysis pretreatment and simultaneous ethylation–extraction procedures

To determine butyl- and phenyl-tins in fish muscle, a method including base digestion pretreatment, followed by a simultaneous ethylation-extraction procedure and gas chromatograph-flame photometric detector (GC-FPD) analysis is outlined. Key parameters that influence analyte recovery were investigated and optimized. A solution of 3% (w/v) potassium hydroxide (KOH) and 1 h digestion time at 60 degrees C were chosen in the base digestion step, to ensure complete solubilization of fish muscle and the decomposition of organotins was found to be insignificant. We found that the ratio of fish muscle/reaction solution should not exceed 0.2 g (dry weight) per 100 mL in order to avoid the matrix effect caused by the binding of hydrolyzed fish tissue with organotin ions. Ethylation of organotins were conducted at pH 6-7 with a 1% (w/v) sodium tetraethylborate (NaBEt(4)) solution for 1 h. This simple and timesaving procedure should be able to be applied to the routine analysis of organotins in other bio-tissues.

Determination of organotin compounds in water by headspace solid phase microextraction with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

This investigation evaluates headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine trace levels of organotins in water. The organotins were derivatized in situ with sodium tetraethylborate and adsorbed on a poly(dimethysiloxane) (PDMS)-coated fused silica fiber. The SPME experimental procedures to extract organotins in water were at pH 5, with extraction and derivatization simultaneously at 45 degrees C for 30 min in a 2% sodium tetraethylborate solution and a sample solution volume in the ratio of 1:1, and desorption in the splitless injection port of the GC at 260 degrees C for 2 min. Detection limits are determined to be in the low ng/L range. According to the analysis, the linearity range is from 10 to 10,000 ng/L with R.S.D. values below 12% except triphenyltin (24%). The proposed method was tested by analyzing surface seawater from the harbors on the Taiwanese coast for organotins residues. Some organotins studied were detected in the analyzed samples. Results of this study demonstrate the adequacy of the headspace SPME-GC-MS method for analyzing organotins in sea water samples.

Sample treatment in chromatography-based speciation of organometallic pollutants

Speciation analysis is nowadays performed routinely in many laboratories to control the quality of the environment, food and health. Chemical speciation analyses generally include the study of different oxidation state of elements or individual organometallic compounds. The determination of the different chemical forms of elements is still an analytical challenge, since they are often unstable and concentrations in different matrices of interest are in the microg l(-1) or even in the ng l(-1) range (e.g., estuarine waters) or ng g(-1) in sediments and biological tissues. For this reason, sensitive and selective analytical atomic techniques are being used as available detectors for speciation, generally coupled with chromatography for the time-resolved introduction of analytes into the atomic spectrometer. The complexity of these instrumental couplings has a straightforward consequence on the duration of the analysis, but sample preparation to separate and transfer the chemical species present in the sample into a solution to be accepted readily by a chromatographic column is the more critical step of total analysis, and demands considerable operator skills and time cost. Traditionally, liquid-liquid extraction has been employed for sample treatment with serious disadvantages, such as consumption, disposal and long-term exposure to organic solvent. In addition, they are usually cumbersome and time-consuming. Therefore, the introduction of new reagents such as sodium tetraethylborate for the simultaneous derivatization of several elements has been proposed. Other possibilities are based in the implementation of techniques for efficient and accelerated isolation of species from the sample matrix. This is the case for microwave-assisted extraction, solid-phase extraction and microextraction, supercritical fluid extraction or pressurized liquid extraction, which offer new possibilities in species treatment, and the advantages of a drastic reduction of the extraction time and the embodiment into on-line flow analysis systems. This new generation of treatment techniques constitutes a good choice as fast extraction methods for feasible species-selective analysis of organometallic compounds under the picogram level, that can be used for national regulatory agencies, governmental and industrial quality control laboratories, and consequently, for manufacturers of analytical instrumentation.

Development in lipid analysis: some new extraction techniques and in situ transesterification

The development of methods for analyzing fatty acids that provide rapid and reliable results is currently in great demand. Recently, different lipid extraction procedures such as microwave or supercritical fluid extraction have heen researched. Both procedures avoid the use of large volumes of solvents and provide rapid lipid isolations. Only a few papers have reported work on microwave extraction, hut many studies ahout supercritical fluid extraction have heen carried out and have heen gaining acceptance within the scientific community. Avoiding the lipid isolation step, hy synthesizing fatty acid esters hy simultaneous lipid extraction and derivatization through in situ reactions, has also heen proposed. The saving of time and reagents is significant. Owing to the differences among the procedures, some knowledge of their characteristics is essential in order to improve methods and achieve reliable and accurate results. Clearly, results depend on factors such as the type of catalysis selected, the use of nonpolar solvents, heating applied during the synthesis, and the degree of suitability of the procedure chosen for the particular features of each sample.

Liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection of triorganotin compounds in marine biological materials

Several extraction methods have been evaluated for marine biological materials with regard to tributyltin and triphenyltin determination by liquid chromatography with post-column fluorimetric detection using fisetin as a fluorogenic reagent. Extraction with ethyl acetate in a hydrochloric acid medium has been shown to be the most appropriate extraction method and it has been successfully applied to fish (sea bass) reference material from the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES-11) and to a candidate reference material.