Determination of organophosphorus pesticides in underground water by SPE-GC-MS

A rapid and effective method is developed for the determination of organophosphorus pesticides (dichlorovos, methyl parathion, malathion, and parathion) in underground water by solid-phase extraction (SPE)-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Some important extraction parameters including types of SPE adsorbents, elution solvents, and injection volume of water samples are optimized. The use of Cleanert-PEP polymer SPE column improved higher extraction efficiencies than the C18 SPE column commonly used. Water samples are extracted using Cleanert-PEP as SPE adsorbent and ethyl acetate as elution solvent. Precision values expressed as relative standard deviation for 1 microg/L of spiked water sample are in the range of 1.6-4.0%. Dichlorvos, methyl parathion, malathion, and parathion are linear in the range of 0.1-1.0 microg/L (r2=0.9976), 0.1-2.0 microg/L (r2=0.9883), 0.1-2.0 microg/L (r2=0.9798), and 0.055-1.1 microg/L (r2=0.9790), respectively. The limits of detection for spiked water samples are in the range of 4-10 ng/L. The optimized method is applied to the determination of underground water samples. Recoveries are between 59.5% and 94.6% for spiked underground water samples. The benefit of the method developed is rapid, simple, and has good repeatability.