A simple spectrophotometric determination of endosulfan in river water and soil

Abstract

A simple spectrophotometric determination of endosulfan (Thiodan), a sulphur containing pesticide is described. The method is based on the liberation of sulphur dioxide from endosulfan which is subsequently absorbed into an absorbing reagent, malonyldihydrazide and estimated by using p-aminoazobenzene and formaldehyde to give a pink coloured dye which has an absorbance maxima at 505 nm. The Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 1–6 ppm for a standard solution of endosulfan. The method can be easily applied in river water and soil samples to determine endosulfan levels as low as 0.05 ppm and 0.25 ppm in river water and soil, respectively. The method is free from the interference of most of the commonly used pesticides and foreign ions.