Simple determination of oxime carbamates in soil and environmental water by high pressure liquid chromatography

A method for determining residues of aldicarb, aldicarb sulphoxide, aldoxycarb, oxamyl and methomyl in soil, groundwater and surface water is described. Subsoils were extracted with water and topsoils were extracted with acetone. The aqueous samples were either directly injected after acidification or concentrated by extraction with chloroform. The organic extracts were evaporated to dryness and redissolved in acidified mobile phase. The compounds were detected with a variable wavelength U.V. detector or with a fluorometric detector after a post-column reaction. Compounds within a concentration range from 0.5 ng/ml to 200 micrograms/ml could be determined with a maximum coefficient of variation of 7.5%. Recoveries varied from 77.0% to 98.8%.