Isolation and gas chromatographic determination of chlorsulfuron in milk

A method for the isolation and gas chromatographic determination of chlorsulfuron in milk is presented. Blank or chlorsulfuron-spiked milk samples were blended into C-18 (octadecylsilyl derivatized silica, ODS) packing material. A column made from the C-18/milk matrix was washed with hexane after which chlorsulfuron was eluted with dichloromethane (DCM). The DCM eluate contained chlorsulfuron which was free from interfering co-extractants when analyzed by gas chromatography utilizing a nitrogen/phosphorus detector. Chlorsulfuron was found to undergo a thermally induced decomposition to give 2-amino-4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazine, which was detected and quantitated by this method. Standard curves for these analyses were linear (r = 0.992 +/- 0.004, n = 5), with an average percentage recovery of 91.6 +/- 10.8%, over the concentration range examined (62.5-2000 ng/mL). The inter- and intra-assay variabilities were 11.6 +/- 7.5% and 6.2%, respectively.