Distribution and temporal trends of butyltins monitored by molluscs along the Chinese Bohai coast from 2002 to 2005

Thirteen areas around the Chinese Bohai coast, individuals including ten kinds of bivalves and two kinds of snails were collected during the period of 2002–2005 for the investigation of spatial distribution and temporal variations of butyltin compounds (BTs). BTs including tributyltin (TBT) and its derivates, dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT) were quantified by gas chromatography/flame photometric detection after extraction and Grignard derivatization. BTs compounds were widely existed in the samples and TBT was the dominant composition, indicating recent TBT input along Bohai coast. As a whole, BTs concentration remained high during the sampling years except a slightly decreased in samples from several sites in 2005. The contamination characteristics of BTs in different sampling sites were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) method, and the species specific bioaccumulation of BTs was also identified using cluster analysis.