Dioctyltin and tributyltin detection at trace levels in water and beverages by capillary gas chromatography with flame photometric detection

A simple chromatographic procedure has been developed for the sensitive det ermination of dioctyltin and tributyltin compounds in water and beverages. Dioctyltin and tributyltin react with NaBH4 at pH 5 to produce volatile hyd rides which can be quantitatively extracted into CH2Cl2. The corresponding dioctyltin hydride derivative is identified by HPLC-ES-MS and measured by f lame photometric detection using the quartz surface-induced tin emission. D etection limits of less than 0.7 pg of tributyltin and 10 pg of dioctyltin were achieved. Results showed that up to 9.5 ng/mL levels of dioctyltin wer e present in beverages.