SPECIATION OF ORGANOTIN COMPOUNDS RELEASED FROM POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE) AT INCREASED TEMPERATURE BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH ATOMIC-EMISSION DETECTION

A method for sampling and analysis of airborne organotin compounds emi tted from poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) was developed and tested. The org anotins originating from dibutyltin maleate, mono- and dioctyltin merc aptoacetate stabilizers were released from PVC under controlled condit ions and recovered from the sorption part of a sampling tube. The comp osition of the sampling material in the tube was optimized to get a re producible release and complete sorption of the target compounds and t o simplify the extraction procedure. An optimized extraction procedure together with aqueous phase derivatization and determination by gas c hromatography-atomic emission detection resulted in a selective and re producible determination of the oganotin compounds. Influences of diff erent thermoplast temperatures, heating times, purge flow gases and pu rge flow rates on the release of organotins from PVC have been evaluat ed. Significant amounts of dibutyltin were found to be released from a PVC sample stabilized with dibutyltin maleate at temperatures of 108 degrees C to 200 degrees C. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.