Derivative UV Spectrophotometric Detection of Some Common Pesticides in Simulated Samples of Beverages

Abstract

Pesticides are widely used in India because of their applications in agriculture and household purposes. Due to their high toxicity, over use and easy availability they are encountered in suicidal, accidental and homicidal cases. Poisoning with pesticides are common in developing countries as compared to western countries. Because of large number of cases of deaths due to pesticide poisoning it is imperative to develop sensitive, reliable and accurate methods for their detection from the viscera samples, biological materials and common substrates such as beverages etc. recovered from the crime scene. Derivative UV-Vis spectrophotometry is one of the most widely used techniques for detection of pesticides in viscera and other matrices such as beverages etc. In the present study, pesticides were spiked in beverages like Coffee, Tea, Fruity, Mountain dew and Alcohol and then analysed using derivative UV spectrophotometry. Further, the effect of matrices was studied on the UV spectra of pesticides.