Determination of methyltin compounds in urine of occupationally exposed and general population by in situ ethylation and headspace SPME coupled with GC-FPD

A method for the determination of methyltin compounds in human urine samples was developed using headspace solid-phase microextration (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatographic separation and flame photometric detection. Three methyltin compounds, monomethyltin (MMT), dimethyltin (DMT), and trimethyltin (TMT) were in situ ethylated by sodium tetraethylborate (NaBEt4) for SPME and GC-FPD analysis. Under the optimized condition, the detection limits of MMT, DMT, and TMT were 8.1, 2.5 and 5.6 ng Sn L−1, and the relative standard deviations were 11.0%, 7.3% and 4.0%, respectively. Methyltin compounds in thirteen urine samples from occupationally exposed population and two from general population were analyzed by the proposed method. The concentrations of total methyltin in the tested urine samples of occupationally exposed population ranged from 26.0 to 7892 ng Sn L−1, and the average level is higher than those of the two non-occupationally exposed individuals. The methyltins in urine were adjusted by osmolality in order to enhance the comparability of different urine samples and the feasibility of this correction method was validated.