SPECIATION OF ORGANOTIN COMPOUNDS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATRICES

Several monitoring programs have been carried out recently in many countries to study the environmental distribution of organotin compounds and to evaluate the effectiveness of adopted legal provisions. Water, sediment, and biota samples have been analyzed and much data are available in the literature. However, the reliability and comparability of these data are doubtful as the analytical methods used are not always under control. Mistakes can occur not only during the analysis but also during the whole analytical procedure. So, it is necessary to carefully check each step to evaluate the quality of the results. Three of the most critical steps are sampling, sample storage, and analysis. Problems concerning these steps are briefly presented and discussed. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc. ,