Speciation of mercury, platinum and tin - focus of research and future developments.

A discussion about the elements mercury, platinum and tin and their organometallic compounds, with special attention to important aspects like anthropogenic emissions, use in industry, agriculture and medicine, toxicities, biogeochemical cycles, highlights the necessity of speciation analysis. Methods frequently used to speciate mercury, platinum and tin compounds in different matrices are summarized. Future trends are indicated in order to give an impression about the importance of metal speciation and its increasing impact on some key disciplines.