Supercritical fluid extraction of organotins from biological samples and speciation by liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Supercritical fluid extraction is used to extract tributyltin and triphenyltin from biological samples. The extraction conditions with carbon dioxide as supercritical fluid (methanol modifier used) are optimized for the organotins from fish tissue certified reference material. The total extraction time is found to be approximately 15 min. The recovery studies at the optimal conditions shows a recovery of 44% for tributyltin and 23% for triphenyltin. The reproducibilities for both the compounds extracted are within 2% R.S.D. The optimum conditions obtained are also used to extract tributyltin and triphenyltin from tuna fish obtained from a local grocery store.