OPTIMIZATION OF AN ANALYTICAL PROCEDURE FOR THE DETERMINATION OF TRIAZINE HERBICIDES IN ENVIRONMENTAL-SAMPLES

A clean-up procedure and high-performance liquid chromatographic conditions were optimized for the determination of triazines in drinking and surface water. Two extraction systems were tested: off-line solid-phase extraction (SPE) with C-18-bonded silica gel cartridges and on-line SPE with PLRP-S (styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer) preconcentration cartridges. The on-line SPE procedure was chosen for further work. Chromatographic conditions were optimized for UV absorbance and particle beam (PB) MS detection. The LC-UV analytical system with on-line preconcentration showed excellent linearity over the concentration range tested and low detection limits (below 0.05 mu g/l) for drinking water. With preconcentration from large volumes of water, some triazines and other pesticide pollutants could be detected in drinking and river water by PB-MS. Quantification was achieved by means of the standard addition method. For soil samples, the extraction procedure was off-line and more elaborate.