Development of extraction and detection method for fluridone in water and sediment by HPLC-UV

Patrick Wickham,Patricia Gilbert,Swee Teh,Pramod Pandey,Latika Singh,Sarah Lesmeister,Sagor Biswas,Jon O’Brien,Jeffrey Caudill,Michael Kwong

doi:10.1186/s13568-019-0807-4

Abstract

Fluridone is widely used as a herbicide for controlling invasive aquatic plants such as hydrilla in surface water bodies. When applied on surface waters fluridone can attach to bed sediment, requiring rigorous extraction methods prior to analysis. Currently, very limited information exists in terms of fluridone residue detection in delta sediment. In this study, we researched fluridone detection in both water and sediment. To extract fluridone from sediment, here we have tested two extraction methods: (1) a rotavapor method (RM); and (2) a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) method (QM). The extraction results of RM were compared with those of QM. To quantify fluridone concentrations in extracts, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-UV detector was used. HPLC separation was achieved using an Allure C18 5 µm 150 × 4.6 mm column with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and water (60:40, v/v). The UV detector was operated at 237 nm. The method was tested and validated using a series of water and sediment samples taken from Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta in California. The average recovery of fluridone was 73% and 78% using RM and QM respectively. The proposed method can be used for testing fluridone in water and sediment samples.

Highlights

Fluridone, 1-methyl-3-phenyl-5-[3-trifluoromethyl)-phenyl]4-(1H)-pyridinone, is a herbicide frequently used to control invasive aquatic plant species such as hydrilla, elodea, and eichnoria
Fluridone is applied in water surface and the concentrations of fluridone in bed sediment are often not known
Fluridone high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) detection and linearity All standards created for calibration curves exhibited excellent chromatography in ACN and water

Summary

Introduction

1-methyl-3-phenyl-5-[3-trifluoromethyl)-phenyl]4-(1H)-pyridinone, is a herbicide frequently used to control invasive aquatic plant species such as hydrilla, elodea, and eichnoria. These aquatic weeds can be highly invasive and damage aquatic ecosystems by establishing monocultures, outcompeting native species, and clogging waterways (Langeland 1996; Posey et al 1993) and in order to control them herbicides are often used. At lower concentrations (300–1000 ppb) in sediment, fluridone can negatively affect the survivability of fish roe, juvenile fish, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and mollusks (Paul et al 1994; Archambault et al 2015; Yi et al 2011). Concentrations from 10 to 300 ppb may cause sublethal effects in juvenile and environmentally sensitive non-target species and can cause mortality in very sensitive species such as water mites (Yi et al 2011; Siemering 2004)

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