Rapid Analysis Method of Dithiocarbamate Pesticides in Agricultural Products by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

A rapid analysis method of dithiocarbamate pesticides in several agricultural commodities was developed. The compounds were extracted from the sample with an alkaline mixture of cysteine and EDTA. Ion-pair reagent was added to the extract and the pH was suitably adjusted, then part of the extract was poured into a Chem Elut™ cartridge and eluted with mixture of chloroform and hexane (3:1) contained 0.05M methyl iodide. The eluate was injected into a high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC). The methyl-esters derived from the dithiocarbamates were determined by HPLC with a UV detector. The chromatography was performed on a YMC ODS AM-312 column (6mm i. d., 150mm) with a mobile phase consisting of water and acetonitrile (6:4). Recoveries of dithiocarbamates from samples at the level of 1ppm were more than 70% except for one combination. The determination limits of dithiocarbamates were all 0.05ppm.