Determination of triphenyltin in sea water samples by liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection

An ion-exchange Chromatographie method for the analysis of triphenyltin in water samples was developed. Detection is based on the highly sensitive fluorogenic reaction between triphenyltin and 3-hydroxyflavone in a micellar medium of Triton X-100. A linear calibration graph in the range 0.1–5.0 μg l−1 Sn as triphenyltin was obtained. The detection limit was 0.02 ng for 200 μl of sample injected. Short-term precision was 4.5% at 0.5 μg l−1. With a preconcentration step by solid-phase extraction on C18 cartridges, concentration factors of about 250 were achieved. The method was applied to the determination of triphenyltin in harbour water at low ng l−1 levels.