Determination of tributyltin in environmental water matrices using stir bar sorptive extraction with in-situ derivatisation and large volume injection-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

•An alternative methodology for trace level analysis of tributyltin (TBT).•NaBH4 as in-situ derivatizing agent.•The development and validation of a novel methodology which use low quantity of solvent for the liquid desorption.•The application of the stir bar sorptive extraction to monitor TBT in environmental waters.

Stir bar sorptive extraction with in-situ derivatization using sodium tetrahydridoborate (NaBH4) followed by liquid desorption and large volume injection-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry detection under the selected ion monitoring mode (SBSE(NaBH4)in-situ–LD/LVI-GC–MS(SIM)) was successfully developed for the determination of tributyltin (TBT) in environmental water matrices. NaBH4 proved to be an effective and easy in-situ speciation agent for TBT in aqueous media, allowing the formation of adducts with enough stability and suitable polarity for SBSE analysis. Assays performed on water samples spiked at the 10.0 μg/L, yielded convenient recoveries (68.2±3.0%), showed good accuracy, suitable precision (RSD<9.0%), low detection limits (23 ng/L) and excellent linear dynamic range (r2=0.9999) from 0.1 to 170.0 µg/L, under optimized experimental conditions. By using the standard addition method, the application of the present methodology to real surface water samples allowed very good performance at the trace level. The proposed methodology proved to be a feasible alternative for routine quality control analysis, easy to implement, reliable and sensitive to monitor TBT in environmental water matrices.

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