THE USE OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR THE SPECIATION OF ORGANOTIN COMPOUNDS

This review of the use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC ) for the speciation of organotin compounds which are primarily of sig nificance in the marine environment, is divided into sections on the b asis of the different HPLC modes of separation. However, it should be noted that such a classification does not exist in reality. For instan ce, in an ion-pair reversed-phase system the separation mechanism for the ionic solutes may be ion-pair partitioning, or ion exchange, or bo th. The relevant practical information (e.g. column type, mobile phase , method of detection and detection limit) is presented in tabular for m. MET A brief overview of the reported detection MIP methods is inclu ded, because the delay in development of an easily interfaced, specifi c and sensitive detector has hindered the use of HPLC for organotin sp eciation studies. The literature reviewed covers publications from 197 7, the year of the first application of HPLC to organotin speciation, to April 1995.