An analytical method for the simultaneous determination of butachlor and benoxacor in wheat and soil

Butachlor is a chloroacetanilide herbicide successfully employed in weeding some important crops, and benoxacor is a safening compound able to induce the enzymatic mechanism of chloroacetanilide detoxification in plants. A practical method for a simultaneous detection of butachlor and benoxacor residues in wheat and in soil is described. The procedure can be performed by GC and HPLC. They were extracted with methanol and cleaned up by solid phase extraction (SPE). The analytes were satisfactorily separated via both GC and HPLC techniques, and no interferences were observed coming from plant or soil matrixes or reagents. The limit of quantitation was found to be 5.0 ng by GC and 20.0 ng by HPLC for butachlor and 2.5 ng by GC and 15.0 ng by HPLC for benoxacor. Butachlor recovery tests ranged from 85.4% to 91.7% in wheat shoots and 84.0% to 93.2% in soil; benoxacor recovery tests ranged from 86.5% to 90.8% in wheat shoots and 85.7% to 90.7% in soil. The reproducibility and the accuracy make this method a selective and sensitive tool for routine analyses.