A Study of the Degradation of Tributyltins in Aqueous Solutions by Differential Pulse Polarography

✍ Scribed by L.P. Pettinato; L.R. Sherman

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 195 KB
• Volume: 47
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0026-265X
• DOI: 10.1006/mchj.1993.1017

✦ Synopsis

A polarographic method for investigating the loss of tributyltin compounds (OTC) having the general formula (\mathrm{Bu}_{3} \mathrm{SnX}(\mathrm{X}=\mathrm{F}, \mathrm{Cl}), or (\mathrm{O})) at (200 \mathrm{ppb}) in sodium acetate (\mathrm{pH} 3.5) buffer, sodium citrate (\mathrm{pH} 4.5) buffer, sodium phosphate (\mathrm{pH} 7.2) buffer, and water is presented in this paper. The OTC solutions were incubated for several weeks at (37^{\circ} \mathrm{C}) to identify the effect of (\mathrm{pH}) and anion on the change in OTC concentration. Fifty-milliliter aliquots were removed daily and extracted twice with (10-\mathrm{ml}) portions of hexane. The hexane was stripped and the samples redissolved in (25 \mathrm{ml}) of methanol containing (0.1 \mathrm{M}) tetramethyl ammonium chloride. The total trialkyltin was determined using differential pulse polarography. Plots of OTC concentration versus time revealed that the tribuyltins underwent three distinct first-order changes in OTC concentration with a minimum extractable tin concentration after 5 days. The mechanism for the change in tributyltin concentration is believed to be due to the formation of polymeric material with the OTC and the solvent. O 1993 Academic Press. Inc.