Development and evaluation of extraction and chromatographic methods in monolithic and core-shell columns for determination of triazine herbicides in soils and waters

Author(s)

Ricardo De Prá Urio

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Conjunto das Químicas (IQ e FCF) (CQ/DBDCQ)
• Defense date: 2015-12-10

Examining board members

Jorge Cesar Masini; Carla Beatriz Grespan Bottoli; Renato Sanches Freire; Sérgio Henrique Monteiro; Lilian Rothschild

• Advisor: Jorge Cesar Masini

Abstract

The use of pesticides has led to increased productivity and quality of agricultural products, but its use brings the intoxication of living beings by the gradual intake of their residues that contaminate soil, water and food. Thus, there is the need for constant monitoring of their concentrations in environmental compartments. For this, there is a quest for development of fast extraction and enrichment methods, at low cost, generating a low volume of waste, contributing to green chemistry. These methods include the extraction assisted by ultrasound bath and the cloud point extraction. After the extraction, the extract obtained can be analyzed by techniques such as High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Sequential Injection Chromatography (SIC) employing modern stationary phases, such as monolithic and superficially porous particles. The use of SIC with either monolithic column (C18, 50 x 4.6 mm) or column packed with superficially porous particles (C18, 30 x 4.6 mm, 2.7 µM particle size) was studied for separating simazine (SIM) and atrazine (ATR), and metabolites, deethylatrazine (DEA), deisopropylatrazine (DIA) and hydroxyatrazine (HAT). Separation was obtained by stepwise elution, with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile (ACN) and 2.5 mM ammonium acetate / acetic acid (NH4Ac / HAc) pH 4.2 buffer. The separation was performed with two mobile phases: MP1 = 15:85 (v v -1) ACN: NH4Ac / HAc and MP2 = 35:65 (v v-1) ACN: NH4Ac / HAc at a flow rate of 35 µL s-1. The separation in the column with superficially porous particles was carried out with the mobile phases MP1 = 13:87 (v v-1) ACN: NH4Ac / HAc and MP2 = 35:65 (v v-1) ACN: NH4Ac / HAc at 8 µL s-1. The ultrasound bath extraction from a soil fortified with herbicides (100 and 1000 µg kg-1) resulted in recoveries between 42 and 160 %. Separation of DEA, DIA, HAT SIM and ATR was obtained by HPLC employing a linear gradient from 13 to 35% for the monolithic column and from 10 to 35% ACN in the column packed with superficially porous particles, with the aqueous phases consisting of 2.5 mM NH4Ac / HAc buffer pH 4.2. In both columns the flow rate was 1.5 mL min-1 and the analysis time was15 min. Ultrasonic extraction from a soil sample containing ATR, fortified with concentrations from 250 to 1000 µg kg-1, provided recoveries between 40 and 86%. The presence of ATR was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Fortification studies with ATR and SIM were carried out in water samples employing cloud point extraction using Triton-X114 surfactant. The separation was accomplished by HPLC using a linear gradient from 13 to 90 % of ACN for the monolithic column and from 10 to 90 % ACN for the packed column, always in 2.5 mM NH4Ac / HAc pH 4.2 buffer. In both columns the flow rate was 1.5 mL min -1 and the analysis time 16 min. Fortifications between 1 and 50 µg L-1 resulted in recoveries between 65 and 132%. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/08309-5 - Development and evaluation of extraction methods and chromatographic separation for determination of triazine, ureas and uracil herbicides in soil and water samples.
• Grantee: Ricardo de Prá Urio
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate