INTERFERENCE FROM ELEMENTAL SULFUR IN THE DETERMINATION OF ORGANOTINSBY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH FLAME PHOTOMETRIC DETECTION

Elemental sulphur a common constituent of marine sediments, has been s hown to give dialkyl sulphides with the Grignard reagents commonly use d to derivatize alkyltin species before their determination by gas chr omatography with flame photometric detection (GC-FPD). Further, it has been demonstrated that even with the red fitter for 610 nm (normally used for organotin compounds) fitted to the detector, sulphur compound s do give rise to an emission signal, which may be mistaken for tin em ission from a pentylated or propylated alkyltin compound, as the respe ctive retention times are in some cases quite close. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.