Towards a new Certified Reference Material for butyltins, methylmercury and arsenobetaine in oyster tissue

• Increasing awareness of the determination of chemical species in the environment evolves jointly with the need to control the validity of analytical measurements in a wide variety of matrices. There are few Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) available for various chemical species, and they are certified for species of one single element (e.g., species of tin and mercury). Three years of collaboration within the framework of European Commission research programmes involving more than 20 laboratories have made it possible to produce an oyster reference material for species of tin, mercury and arsenic (BCR-710) and to perform the necessary experimental work for its certification. This article summarises the feasibility study and describes the various steps in the preparation, production and characterisation of this material for its content of arsenobetaine, methylmercury, tributyltin and dibutyltin. These steps included stability and homogeneity testing as well as value assignment based on a collaborative approach involving a group of European laboratories. Further work is going on to certify total contents for a range of trace metals.

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