Issue 1, 2015

C18-coated stir bar sorptive extraction combined with HPLC-ICP-MS for the speciation of butyltins in environmental samples

Abstract

In this paper, a new approach of C18-coated stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) was developed for the speciation of butyltins in environmental samples. The butyltin compounds, including monobutyltin trichloride (MBT), dibutyltin dichloride (DBT) and tributyltin chloride (TBT), were first extracted with a C18-coated stir bar, and then desorbed with 40% (v/v) methanol for subsequent HPLC-ICP-MS analysis. The factors affecting C18-SBSE were systematically studied. To reduce the percentage of organic solvents in the mobile phase loaded on the plasma and to improve the separation resolution, a CN column with carboxylic acids as the mobile phase additives was used for butyltin separation. Quick separation (<8 min) was accomplished using a methanol–formic acid–water (16 : 8 : 76, v/v/v) mobile phase containing 5 mmol L−1 mercaptoacetic acid, and the mobile phase was compatible with the conventional quadrupole ICP-MS detector without addition of oxygen gas or desolvation and post-column dilution systems. Under the optimal conditions, the limits of detection for three target butyltins ranged from 15.6 to 29.4 ng L−1, with a linear range of 0.05–50 μg L−1. The enrichment factors (EFs) were 85- to 127-fold (the theoretical EF is 200-fold). The developed method is simple and rapid, with no derivatization involved, and is successfully applied to the speciation of butyltins in the Certified Reference Material of PACS-2 sediment and real water as well as sediment samples from the East Lake, Yangtze River and Bohai Sea in China.

Graphical abstract: C18-coated stir bar sorptive extraction combined with HPLC-ICP-MS for the speciation of butyltins in environmental samples

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Aug 2014
Accepted
21 Oct 2014
First published
22 Oct 2014

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2015,30, 162-171

C18-coated stir bar sorptive extraction combined with HPLC-ICP-MS for the speciation of butyltins in environmental samples

X. Mao, W. Fan, M. He, B. Chen and B. Hu, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2015, 30, 162 DOI: 10.1039/C4JA00294F

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