Triorganotin compounds are very toxic contaminants. The site of their basic mechanism of action of acute toxicity is the biomembrane. Liposome-water distribution ratios of triphenyltin and tributyltin were determined between pH 3 and pH 8 with the equilibrium dialysis method in the micromolar concentration range, which is the concentration range where acute toxicity is observed. In addition, biomembrane-water distribution ratios of tributyltin were determined with chromatophores of Rhodobacter sphaeroides that contain approximately 70 protein intercalated in the lipid bilayer. The liposome-water distribution of both compounds showed only weak pH dependence. For tributyltin, the apparent distribution ratio decreased from 4100 at low pH to 2000 at high pH, while this ratio decreased from 70 000 to 22 000 for TPT. The distribution ratio of the triorganotin cation exceeded that of the neutral hydroxo complex by a factor of 2. The distribution ratio of both the cation and the hydroxo complex of triphenyltin exceeded that of tributyltin by a factor of 10. It is postulated that the sorption of the cation is governed by complex formation with ligands in the phospholipids, presumably the phosphate group. The biomembrane-water distribution ratio of tributyltin was found to be lower than the liposome-water distribution ratio at high pH. The hydroxo complex appears to partition only to the lipid fraction of the biomembrane. Yet, at low pH the biomembrane-water distribution ratio exceeded the liposome-water distribution ratio, which is attributed to complex formation of the cationic species with ligands of the protein fraction.
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