Preparation, preservation and application of pure isotope-enriched phenyltin species

A method combining liquid/liquid extraction and chromatographic fractionation has been developed for the preparation of pure monophenyltin (MPhT), diphenyltin (DPhT), and triphenyltin (TPhT), synthesized from isotope-enriched Sn metal using phenylation of SnI₄ in diethylether (DEE) followed by quenching with HBr and water. After two successive extractions of the aqueous HBr phase with DEE, >99% of both DPhT and TPhT was recovered in the combined DEE phase and 94% of the MPhT remained in the aqueous phase. The MPhT in the aqueous phase was extracted into dichloromethane. The organic phases were vaporized and the PhTs were redissolved in MeOH/water/acetic acid/sodium acetate (59/30/6/8, v/v/v/w), which was also used as storing solution. Aliquots of the two solutions containing either DPhT and TPhT or MPhT were injected into a silica-based C₁₈ column for isolating and purifying single species. The yields of pure MPhT, DPhT, and TPhT, each synthesized from isotope-enriched ¹¹⁸Sn metal, ¹²²Sn metal, and ¹²⁴Sn metal, were better than 99%. After chromatographic separation, the single phenyltin compounds were mixed to prepare a spike for multiple-isotope species-specific isotope dilution (MI-SSID). MI-SSID was successfully used to determine phenyltin compounds in the certified reference material, mussel tissue BCR CRM-477. At −20 °C, all of the fractionated phenyltin species were stable in the storage solution for at least 197 days. When these standards were stored at 4 °C or 22 °C, 4–6% of the DPhT and TPhT degraded within 27 days. The degradation of DPhT and TPhT increased with the ionic strength and acidity of the storage solution.