Application of supported liquid membrane probe for extraction and preconcentration of organotin compounds from environmental water samples

The new supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction probe (SLMP) was developed and optimized for extraction and preconcentration of organotin (OT) compounds from environmental water samples. SLMP is much simpler configuration than traditional SLM systems. The use of stirring allows the same sample to be extracted many times with higher extraction efficiency from smaller sample size. The SLMP was used to extract organotin compounds from aqueous solution to organic solvent (isooctane) followed by determination of organotin species by gas chromatography. The SLM probe extraction was optimized for extraction time, stirring rate, the geometry of the system, and ionic strength of the sample. The extraction efficiencies obtained were 63–94% for deionised water and 52–89% for sea water. The detection limit of the method ranged from 0.5 (mu)g for triphenyltin to 1.5 (mu)g for monobutyltin. The optimized procedure was applied for the speciation study of OT compounds in environmental water samples.