Separation of triazine herbicides by ion-interaction HPLC and application to surface waters

An ion-interaction reverse phase chromatographic method is presented for the separation and determination of atrazine, hexazinone, prometryn, propazine, simazine, terbuthylazine. The separation is carried out in isocratic conditions on a octadecyl silica stationary phase, using an hydroorganic solution (acetonitrile/water 45/55) of 5.0 mmol/L octylamine o-phosphate at pH 6.4 as mobile phase, with spectrophotometric detection at 230 nm. The detection limit (around 1.0 mu g/L) reached without derivatization makes the method suitable for the analysis of surface waters without preconcentration. Application to river and lagoon water samples are reported.