Extraction of butyltins from sediments and their determination by liquid chromatography interfaced to inductively coupled plasma atomic emission detector

A liquid-liquid extraction of the butyltin compounds from sediment, suitabl e for their subsequent following determination by High Performance Liquid C hromatography-Hydride Generation-Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission detector system, is proposed. Recoveries of 86%, 80% and 42% for tributylt in (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT) respectively were achieve d. The relative detection limits of butyltin compounds by this method range d from 27 to 62 ng of tin per gram of dry sediment. The method was applied to real sediment samples collected in the Venice Lagoon (Italy). The result s showed that, despite the restrictions on the use of butyltin contained in antifouling paints, a considerable amount of organotin compounds is still present in Venice sediments.