Applications of capillary electrochromatography analysis for formulated pesticide products

The feasibility of using capillary electrochromatography (CEC) as a high-efficiency reversed-phase separation technique has been demonstrated for the analysis of some pesticide formulation products. Some operating parameters of CEC analysis (organic modifier content, pH of the buffer, and sample diluent) were studied using commercially available capillaries packed with Hypersil (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, U.S.A.) octadecylsilic (ODS) particles. It was found that the resolution decreases in linear fashion with the increase in percent acetonitrile in the sample diluent for neutral components if a combination of electrokinetic injection and pressure injection is used. Several practical applications of the CEC technique in the analysis of pesticide formulation products are described in detail. The results indicate that CEC, compared with HPLC, not only has higher efficiency, but is also practical, precise, and accurate in terms of simplicity, efficiency, recovery, and linearity.