Procedures for analysis of atrazine and simazine in environmental matrices

There is an ongoing need to monitor soil and trophic chain samples for residues of triazine herbicides, particularly atrazine and simazine, because these herbicides are among the most used members of their class, are toxic, can be persistent, and are widely distributed in the environment. The main purpose of this review is to provide an overview of principle techniques and approaches used in analyzing atrazine, simazine, and other triazine herbicide residues in environmental matrices. The methods covered generally provide low detection limits, acceptable levels of matrix interferences, and are relatively fast and inexpensive. Atrazine and simazine are popular herbicides used to control a variety of broad leaf and grassy weeds in agriculture and on industrial sites. Because they are widely and frequently used, the environmental contamination of these compounds is considerable. Atrazine, simazine, and other triazines have the ability to translocate in ecosystems. When this occurs, it is often necessary to monitor their residue content in soils, vegetation, biota, and water. There is a vast literature available that addresses the extraction and clean-up of soil, vegetation, animal tissue, and animal fluid samples; unfortunately, few of these publications compare the effectiveness of results obtained on similar matrices. In this review we endeavor to review and provide comparative information on methods dedicated to determining residues of atrazine, simazine, and other triazines in several environment matrices: soil, plants, animal tissues, and water.