Quantifying Organic and Inorganic Tin Compounds in Environmental Samples

Organotins are compounds with one or more carbon-tin bonds. Addition of an organo-moiety to tin increases its volatility, its lipid solubility and adsorptivrty, and its toxicity to many organisms. Tin can have a valence of 2⁺ or 4⁺ but Sn⁴⁺ predominates in the environment. Of the tin mined each year, about 5% is used for production of organotins, yielding some 30,000 tons of organotins (1 ), and tin may have more of its organometallic derivatives in use than any other element (1 ,2 ).