Gas chromatographic method for analysis of 2,4-D in wheat: interlaboratory study

A procedure is described for the determination of 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) in dried green plant material. Samples are first extracted with dilute sodium hydroxide, and then after acidification and solvent extraction, the residues are methylated using boron trifluoride-methanol reagent. The methyl ester of 2,4-D is cleaned up on a Florisil column and quantitated using a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector. Six laboratories made quadruplicate determinations on control, dried green wheat check samples, on 4 similar samples fortified at the 0.50 ppm level, and on 4 samples fortified at the 1.00 ppm level with 2,4-D. Based on the data from 5 laboratories, the plant fortifications of 0.50 and 1.00 ppm yielded average interlaboratory recoveries of 2,4-D of 83.3 and 88.2%, respectively. The procedure also has potential for the determination of 2,4-D in wheat straw and wheat grain.