Extraction methodology and chromatography for the determination of residual pesticides in water

Abstract

The contemporary state of the determination of pesticide residues and some of their transformation products is reviewed. The review covers the chromatographic determination of herbicides, insecticides and some important fungicide residues and their toxic transformation products (substituted anilines, chlorophenols, ethylenethiourea) in various types of water samples. Advantages and drawbacks of gas and liquid chromatography in this type of analysis are discussed. The emphasis is placed on multi-residue analytical methods with the required limit of quantification (LOQ <0.1 μg l-1) and recovery. Various aspects of the isolation, preconcentration and clean-up of pesticide residue extracts from water samples are discussed (liquid-liquid extraction, liquid-solid extraction and supercritical fluid extraction). The characteristics of a modern chromatographic method for the determination of pesticide residues and their transformation products are summarized and trends in the development of GC and LC methods are discussed.