Organotin compounds are ubiquitous contaminants in the environment. The high biological activity of some compounds toward aquatic organisms lead to deleterious impacts in aquatic ecosystems. Here, the aquatic ecotoxicology of organotins is reviewed based on a multidisciplinary approach involving environmental chemical, toxicological, and ecological aspects. Basic results were obtained both with field and laboratory studies, and some of the most important recent results and conclusions are critically reviewed. The contamination of and fate in aquatic systems is reported and linked with effects at different levels of biological organization. Major emphasis is placed on the development of a concept of ecotoxicology that encompasses not only effect assessment alone, but also integrates environmental chemistry with aquatic toxicology. Thereby, the influence of speciation for bioavailability, basic modes of toxic action, and aquatic toxicity are discussed. This case study on organotins allows to a certain extent generalizations to ecotoxicology in general.

Ecotoxicology of organotin compounds.

Metal-free heterostructure photocatalysts composed of black phosphorus (BP) and polymeric carbon nitride (CN) are successfully synthesized via a one-step liquid exfoliation method assisted by sonication. The combination of BP with CN strengthens the visible-light harvesting ability, facilitates the charge separation in the photocatalytic process, and renders promoted activity of photoinduced molecular oxygen activation, such as superoxide radicals (·O2−) evolution and H2O2 production. This work highlights that coupling semiconductors with well-matched band levels provide a flexible route to enhance the performance of photocatalysts for producing reactive oxygen species, and gives ideas for the design of highly active and metal-free materials toward sustainable solar-to-chemical energy conversion and environmental remediation.

Black Phosphorus and Polymeric Carbon Nitride Heterostructure for Photoinduced Molecular Oxygen Activation

Metal speciation in solid matrices

Occurrence and chemical speciation analysis of organotin compounds in the environment: a review.

Analytical procedures for the determination of organotin compounds in sediment and biota: a critical review.

Determination of butyltin and phenyltin compounds in biological and sediment samples by electron-capture gas chromatography.

Bioconcentration and metabolism of butyltin compounds in carp

Bioconcentration and metabolism of phenyltin chlorides in carp

A method is described for the simultaneous determination of nanogram amounts of dibutyltin and tributyltin compounds in biological and sediment samples. These compounds are converted to the corresponding chlorides with HCl, extracted with ethyl acetate-hexane (3 + 2) for biological samples and with hexane for sediment samples, and hydrogenated with sodium borohydride. The corresponding hydrides, Bu2SnH2 and Bu3SnH, are detected by electron-capture gas chromatography after cleanup by silica gel column chromatography. Detection limits are 1.0-2.0 and 0.5-1.0 ng/g, respectively, for biological and sediment samples.

Simultaneous gas chromatographic determination of dibutyltin and tributyltin compounds in biological and sediment samples.

Correlative studies on changes in lipid composition of gills and uptake of chemicals of willow shiner fish (Gnathopogon caerulescens) by exposure to detergent

Hiroshi Nakanishi

Papers

Determination of butyltin and phenyltin compounds in biological and sediment samples by electron-capture gas chromatography.

Bioconcentration and metabolism of butyltin compounds in carp

Bioconcentration and metabolism of phenyltin chlorides in carp

Simultaneous gas chromatographic determination of dibutyltin and tributyltin compounds in biological and sediment samples.

Correlative studies on changes in lipid composition of gills and uptake of chemicals of willow shiner fish (Gnathopogon caerulescens) by exposure to detergent