Organotin compounds are widely used across industry and agriculture, resulting in widespread pollution of various environmental media, including potable water. Among these compounds are tributyltin (TBT), triphenyltin (TPT), dibutyltin (DBT), and diphenyltin (DPT), in the following order of persistent toxicity: TBT > TPT > DBT > DPT.
According to the existing Chinese national standards, the analytical method for organotin is mainly GC or GC/MS (after derivatization) to convert the organotin species into volatile compounds. However, the exception is Chinese standard HJ 1074-2019, which is the first environmental method certified for organotin speciation by HPLC-ICP-MS. The advantage of LC over GC for the separation of organotin species is simplified sample preparation.
This work demonstrates the separation, detection, and analysis of DBT, TBT, DPT, and TPT in tap water in accordance with Chinese method HJ 1074-2019, using the NexSAR™ HPLC-ICP-MS solution, comprising of an inert NexSAR HPLC system coupled to a NexION® ICP-MS.