Charge-transfer complex-based spectrophotometric method for the determination of mesotrione in environmental samples

A simple, accurate, sensitive, and selective spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of mesotrione. This method is based on the reaction of mesotrione with Fe(III) to form a charge transfer metal complex having λ_max at 348 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 0.2-10.0 µg mL^-1 with limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) equal to 0.053 and 0.162 µg mL^-1, respectively. The percent recovery of mesotrione from different environmental and agricultural samples was found to be 95.00-106.50% at various levels. Notably, the developed method was successfully employed for the determination of mesotrione in environmental (pond water, canal water, tap water, and soil) and agricultural (maize grains) samples.