An accurate and sensitive species-specific isotope dilution GC/ICPMS method was developed for the determination of trimethyllead (Me3Pb+) in biological and environmental samples. A trimethyllead spike was synthesized from 206Pb-enriched metallic lead by reaction of lead halide with methyllithium and subsequent formation of trimethyllead iodide. The isotopic composition of the spike solution was determined by GC/ICPMS after derivatization with tetraethylborate, and its concentration was determined by reverse isotope dilution analysis. The species-specific GC/ICP-IDMS method was validated by reference material CRM 605 (urban dust) certified for Me3Pb+. The method was also applied to determine the Me3Pb+ content in six biological reference materials (DORM 2, CRM 278, CRM 422, CRM 463, CRM 477, MURST-ISS-A2) and one sediment reference material (CRM 580) for which no certified values of this species exist. The Me3Pb+ concentrations in the biological reference materials vary in the range of 0.3-17 ng g(-1) (as Pb) except for the Antarctic Krill (MURST-ISS-A2), where the concentration was less than the detection limit of 0.09 ng g(-1), which was also found for the sediment. Up to 20% of total lead was methylated in the biological reference materials, whereas much higher methylation fractions were found for mercury. The method was also applied to seafood samples purchased from a supermarket with Me3Pb+ concentrations in the limited range of 0.3-0.7 ng g(-1). On the contrary, the portion of methylated lead in these samples varied over more than 2 orders of magnitude from 0.02 to 7.5%.

An accurate and sensitive multi-species species-specific isotope dilution GC-ICP-MS method was developed for the simultaneous determination of trimethyllead (Me3Pb+), monomethylmercury (MeHg+) and the three butyltin species Bu3Sn+, Bu2Sn2+, and BuSn3+ in biological samples. The method was validated by three biological reference materials (CRM 477, mussel tissue certified for butyltins; CRM 463, tuna fish certified for MeHg+; DORM 2, dogfish muscle certified for MeHg+). Under certain conditions, and with minor modifications of the sample pretreatment procedure, this method could also be transferred to environmental samples such as sediments, as demonstrated by analyzing sediment reference material BCR 646 (freshwater sediment, certified for butyltins). The detection limits of the multi-species GC-ICP-IDMS method for biological samples were 1.4 ng g(-1) for MeHg+, 0.06 ng g(-1) for Me3Pb+, 0.3 ng g(-1) for BuSn3+ and Bu3Sn+, and 1.2 ng g(-1) for Bu2Sn2+. Because of the high relevance of these heavy metal alkyl species to the quality assurance of seafood, the method was also applied to corresponding samples purchased from a supermarket. The methylated lead fraction in these samples, correlated to total lead, varied over a broad range (from 0.01% to 7.6%). On the other hand, the MeHg+ fraction was much higher, normally in the range of 80-100%. Considering that we may expect tighter legislative limitations on MeHg+ levels in seafood in the future, we found the highest methylmercury contents (up to 10.6 microg g(-1)) in two shark samples, an animal which is at the end of the marine food chain, whereas MeHg+ contents of less than 0.2 microg g(-1) were found in most other seafood samples; these results correlate with the idea that MeHg+ is usually of biological origin in the marine environment. The concentration of butyltins and the fraction of the total tin content that is from butyltins strongly depend on possible contamination, due to the exclusively anthropogenic character of these compounds. A broad variation in the butylated tin fraction (in the range of <0.3-49%) was therefore observed in different seafood samples. Corresponding isotope-labeled spike compounds (except for trimethyllead) are commercially available for all of these compounds, and since these can be used in the multi-species species-specific GC-ICP-IDMS method developed here, this technique shows great potential for routine analysis in the future.

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