PRODUCTION OF METHYLTIN COMPOUNDS RELATED TO POSSIBLE CONDITIONS IN THE ENVIRONMENT

The methylation of heavy-metal compounds (e.g. mercury, lead, tin) in the environment has great significance owing to the much higher toxicity of their methyl derivatives in comparison with inorganic metal species. In this paper abiological methylation of inorganic tin is described. Ethanol, acetic acid and propionic acid abiologically methylated inorganic tin, and the highest yield of methyltin was observed in the reaction between inorganic tin(II) and ethanol. Furthermore, environmental factors for the methylation, such as pH, temperature, added ethanol, concentration of sodium chloride and photoirradiation, were investigated in this reaction. Methyltin production increased at low pH, and decreased at higher concentrations of sodium chloride. Photoirradiation accelerated the reaction rate, and a shorter wavelength showed a higher rate. Inorganic tin(II) was converted rapidly into monomethyltin, and gradually transformed into dimethyltin and trimethyltin with the course time.