Liquid chromatographic method development for determination of fungicide epoxiconazole enantiomers by achiral and chiral column switching technique in water and soil

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in both chiral isocratic and achiral-chiral column switching mode was employed for optimization of separation conditions, separation and determination of fungicide epoxiconazole in real samples. Two enantiomers of commercially available triazole fungicide epoxiconazole, (BAS 480 F), first registered in 1993, were resolved for the first time on a microcrystalline cellulose triacetate (MCTA). A low-cost home-packed chiral column (150X3 turn, 15-25 mum, MCTA, Merck) enabled baseline enantiomeric resolution of two enantiomers of the fungicide epoxiconazole produced commercially. The effects of concentration of organic modifiers (methanol, ethanol) in mobile phase, flow-rate and temperature were studied. The isocratic chiral HPLC method allows determination of the enantiomers in tap and surface water within the range 1-1000 mg/l by direct injection (20 mul) of the sample. Using the achiral (C-18)-chiral (MCTA) column-switching technique and 1-ml sample volume, injection of 0.050 mg/l of epoxiconazole enantiomers can be conveniently determined by UV detection at 230 nm. The same method applied to methanolic soil extracts allows determination of 0.2 mg/kg of epoxiconazole enantiomers in addition to the other 10 commonly used pesticides in fortified soils. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.