Monitoring of atrazine biodegradation by Pleurotus ostreatus INCQS 40310 through the simultaneous analysis of atrazine and its derivatives by HPLC

Abstract

Atrazine is a widely used herbicide on crops of major economic relevance such as corn and sugarcane. The widespread use of this herbicide could result in its accumulation in, or contamination of environmental niches. It is important to emphasize that not only atrazine but also its derivatives should be monitored. The aim of this study was to develop an appropriate methodology for simultaneous separation of atrazine (ATZ) and its derivatives, desethylatrazine (DEA), deisopropylatrazine (DIA), hydroxyatrazine (HA), desethyldeisopropylatrazine (DEDIA), desethylhydroxyatrazine (DEHA), and deisopropylhydroxyatrazine (DIHA) using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC analyses were performed under gradient elution mode using a Shim-pack VP ODS C18 (250 × 4.6 mm, 4.6 μm) column, 5 mmol.L− 1 of sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) and acetonitrile as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL.min− 1 and 25°C. Detection was monitored at 221 nm. Some validation parameters, such as selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection and limit of quantification were evaluated for analyses of atrazine, DEA, and DEDIA. The method was successfully applied to the detection of DEA and DIA, the main degradation products observed after 15 days of incubation in the presence of Pleurotus ostreatus INCQS 40310. The formation of DEA and DIA was unequivocally confirmed by GC-MS.