| Abstract: | A novel method of analysis of inorganic and organometallic compounds is reported. Essentially this utilizes the well-documented hydride generation technique, but in the present method the hydrides are generated from their involatile precursors (e.g. chlorides) on a GC column and separated from each other and from extraneous materials on the same GC column in a single process. Using the method, a solution of butyltin chlorides can be directly injected into a GC AA system to yield the volatile hydrides for separation, detection and quantification. To date, species analysed by this method include inorganic As(III), Me2AsOOH, inorganic Sb(III) and Sb(V), MeSnCl3, Me2SnCl2, Me3SnCl, Et2SnCl2, Et3SnCl, BuSnCl3, Bu2SnCl2, Bu3SnCl and Pr3SnCl. With the use of the internal standard Pr3SnCl and with the almost complete hydridization afforded by the technique, the procedure is shown to eliminate errors and to reduce the time involved in the analysis. The use of on-column derivatization also allows for the possibility that, in some cases, organotin hydrides reported to be found in the natural environment may, in fact, be organotin chlorides being reported as hydrides owing to inadvertent hydride production on the column. Some reports of successful gas chromatography for organotin halides could also conceivably be due to on-column hydride generation. |
