Development and validation of an analytical method for determination of endocrine disruptor, 2,4-D, in paddy field...

The acidic herbicides are an important class of chemical compounds that are used to control a variety of weeds that threaten many crops. Owing to their low microbial activity levels, the acidic herbicides exhibit a residual activity remaining for periods of up to several months in soils and water. The principal objective of this study was to develop an analytical method based on liquid-liquid and solid-phase extraction followed by HPLC, for the determination of 2,4-D in paddy field water. The residues were verified via tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) in negative-ion electrospray ionization (ESI) mode. Linearity was good over a concentration range of 1-100 µg/L with a correlation coefficient (r(2) ) of 0.999. The mean recovery rates of triplicate results ranged from 85.2 to 90.85%. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.4 and 1.0 µg/L, respectively. The method proposed herein was applied to field samples acquired from Hampyung and Sunchang counties, Republic of Korea. The analyte was detected at a concentration range of 6.8-12.8 and 3.55-24.0 µg/L, respectively.