High-Throughput Speciation of Triethyl Tin, Tributyl Tin, and Triphenyl Tin in Environmental Water by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography – Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)

Abstract

A simple, sensitive and high-throughput method has been developed for the determination of triethyl tin (TET), tributyl tin (TBT) and triphenyl tin (TPhT) in environmental water samples using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The effects of several parameters, including the type and volume of extraction solvent, type and volume of disperser solvent, and influence of salt and extraction time, were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, 25.0 µL of chlorobenzene were used as the extractant solvent. The enrichment factors were 168, 187, 175 for triethyl tin, tributyl tin, and triphenyl tin, respectively. Good linear relationships for the three organotin compounds were obtained across the range from 0.05 to 5.0 µg/L, and the limits of detection were from 0.003 to 0.010 µg/L based on a signal-to-noise ratio of three. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of seawater, river water and lake water samples with spiked recoveries from 81.4 to 109%, with the relative standard deviations from 4.2 to 8.4% (n = 6) obtained.

Keywords:

• Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction
• organotin compounds
• Tributyl tin
• Triethyl tin
• Triphenyl tin
• Ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Science and Technology Program of Zhejiang Province (Number LGC20B050014).