US EPA

8306970 

Journal Article 

Organotin compound contamination in Shekou harbor and its adjacent waters along the city of Shenzhen 

Deng, L; Ni, R; Zhong, Y; Chen, D 

2008 

Yes 

Huanjing Kexue Xuebao / Acta Scientiae Circumstantiae
ISSN: 0253-2468 

28 

8 

1681-1687 

Chinese 

Contamination by organotin compounds was studied in Shekou harbor off of Shenzhen and its adjacent waters. The organotin compounds were determined by gas chromatography with a flame photometric detector (GC-FPD), after sample pretreatment by simultaneous liquid liquid extraction with hexane and derivatization with tetraethyl borate. As a result, tributyltin, dibutyltin and monobutyltin were quantitatively detected, but triphenyltin could not be analyzed quantitatively with this method. The average concentrations of tributyltin, dibutyltin and monobutyltin in the investigated water areas are 80, 62 and 49 ng·L-1, respectively. The tributyltin concentration in one of samples from harbor waters reached the relatively high level of 152 ng·L-1. Some other strong but unknown GC-FPD signal peaks were detected in the seawater samples from Shenzhen Bay. Shekou harbor and Shenzhen Bay waters are severely contaminated by organotin compounds. The organotin contamination in Shekou harbor waters may be due to both the intensive shipping activities in the area and the contamination of waters in the Zhujiang River estuary. And the organotin contamination in Shenzhen Bay may come partially from the diffusion of organotin compounds from the Shekou harbor area, and partially from contaminated freshwater flowing in from the Shenzhen River. The organotin contamination in the waters of Shenzhen Bay may badly endanger the mangrove wetlands ecosystem, a national mangrove and bird nature reserve which is very important for maintaining biodiversity and protecting migrating birds. Therefore more attention should be paid to the problem of organotin contamination in Shenzhen Bay. 

Butyltin; Organotin compounds; Shekou harbor; Shenzhen Bay; Tetraethyl borate