SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF TRIAZINES INCLUDING ATRAZINE AND THEIR MAJOR METABOLITES HYDROXYATRAZINE, DESETHYLATRAZINE, AND DEISOPROPYLATRAZINE IN NATURAL-WATERS

This paper describes the simultaneous quantification of the herbicides atrazine (AT), simazine (SIM), terbutylazine (TER), propazine (PROP), and prometryne (FROM) and their major metabolites hydroxyatrazine (ATOH), hydroxypropazine (PROH), desethylatrazine (DEA), and deisopropylatrazine (DIA) in natural waters at the low nanograms per liter concentration level (3-1500 ng/L). These herbicides and their metabolites were determined in surface water, groundwater, rainwater, roof runoff, and wastewater, The compounds were enriched on graphitized carbon black (GCB) and analyzed with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a diode array UV detector (DAD). The recoveries for hydroxyatrazine and hydroxypropazine from spiked Nanopure water were 93 +/- 6.9% and 92 +/- 7.0%, respectively, For all other compounds, the recovery ranged between 97 +/- 4.8% and 101 +/- 3.3% in Nanopure water (fortified with 50-900 ng/L) and between 88 +/- 9.0% and 108 +/- 13% in lake water (spiked with 50-150 ng/L), respectively, The detection limits were 2-7 ng/L in pure water and 3-11 ng/L in environmental samples, The mean relative standard deviation (RSD) was 6.2% (ranging from 0.9% to 15%) in natural waters. The method was compared to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques using deuterioatrazine as an internal standard. Both methods produced consistent results for the parent compounds, while the HPLC method was more precise for the determination of the metabolite concentrations. The HPLC method described allows for the first time the routine quantification of very low concentrations (<20 ng/L) of hydroxyatrazine together with other triazines in a single analytical procedure.