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THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN IC-ICP-MS METHOD FOR THE SPECIATION OF METHYLTINS.
Citation:
MILSTEIN, L. S., J. M. PERLMUTTER, F. X. WEBER, M. A. LEVINE, P. M. GROHSE, W. F. GUTKNECHT, AND V. C. MOSER. THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN IC-ICP-MS METHOD FOR THE SPECIATION OF METHYLTINS. Presented at European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Geneva, SWITZERLAND, January 30 - February 04, 2006.
Description:
The determination of organotin compounds in environmental samples is of concern as the species have varying degrees of toxicity. Generally, the most toxic organotin compounds belong to the tri alkyl substituted variety followed by the di- and mono-substituted organotins. The low sensitivity and detection capabilities demanded by speciation studies, typically require the use of hyphenated techniques such as liquid chromatography – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LC-ICP-MS). Liquid chromatography, or ion chromatography (IC), is often preferred in organotin speciation studies because derivatization of compounds prior to analysis (as is often the case with gas chromatographic techniques) is not required. An IC-ICP-MS method previously employed for the determination of tributyltins and their degradation products [1] was applied in our laboratory, with a few modifications, towards the determination of monomethyltin, dimethyltin and trimethyltin (MMT, DMT and TMT) in drinking water samples (96 total). These water samples, dosed with DMT and MMT at various concentration levels for an animal study, were collected over a one-week time period. The IC-ICP-MS method was used to verify the dosing levels and to measure if any interconversion between the species took place. This method was simplified through the use of an isocratic mobile phase composed of 30% methanol, which allowed for ICP-MS plasma stability. Baseline separation of the three species was achieved in a single chromatographic run in less than 15 minutes. Prior to the determination of MMT, DMT and TMT in the drinking water samples, the performance of the IC-ICP-MS method was assessed with respect to linearity, accuracy, precision, instrument detection limit (IDL) and method detection limit (MDL). The drinking water samples were also evaluated for total tin using ICP- optical emission spectroscopy (OES). [1] J. J. Garcia-Alonso, A. Sanz-Medel and L. Ebdon, Anal. Chim. Acta., 283, 261 (1993). This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.