DETERMINATION OF TETRAALKYLLEAD COMPOUNDS IN WATER, SEDIMENT, AND FISH SAMPLES

A simple and rapid extraction procedure to extract five tetraalkyllead compounds (Me4Pb, Me3EtPb, Me2Et2Pb, MeEt3Pb, Et4Pb) from water, sediment, fish samples is described. The extracted compounds are analyzed in their authentic forms by a gas chromatographic-atomic adsorption spectrometry system. Other forms of inorganic and organic lead do not interfere. The detection limits for water (200 mL), sediment (5 g), fish (2 g) are 0.50 μg/L, 0.01 μg/g, 0.025 μg/g, respectively. The methods were developed to investigate the occurrence of these compounds in environmental samples. Experiments have established that tetramethyllead can be accumulated by fish and remains in its authentic form for some time. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.