DIRECT DETERMINATION OF BUTYLTIN AND PHENYLTIN COMPOUNDS AS CHLORIDESUSING GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND FLAME PHOTOMETRIC DETECTION

The simultaneous determination of butyl- and phenyltin chlorides using GC with flame photometric detection, which appears to be attractive b ecause of its simplicity and rapidity in comparison with methods inclu ding a derivatization step, has been investigated to evaluate its conv enience and suitability. Solvents of different polarity, different GC conditions and several HCl doping procedures mere tested. The tendency of these organotin compounds to decompose on injection can be minimiz ed by using strictly defined operating parameters; yiz., an injector t emperature of 250-300 degrees C, an initial column temperature less th an or equal to 80 degrees C and a concentration of doping agent (HCl) between 0.012 and 0.08 mol l(-1), for butyltin species and monophenylt in, Nevertheless, the determination of di- and triphenyltin in a sampl e containing both butyl- and phenyltin compounds was not possible with out significant decomposition of the analytes (above 15%).