Rapid Screening Method for the Determination of Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Wheat by Electron Capture Gas Chromatography

Abstract

Abstract A rapid screening method, employing a gas chromatographic technique with electron capture detection, has been developed for t h e analysis of organochlorine pesticide residues in hard red spring wheat. Ground wheat is extracted by ball-milling with an ethyl etherhexane (3 + 97) extractant. After filtration, the extract is cleaned up on a partially deactivated Florisil column, using a single eluting system, ethyl ether-hexane (1 + 99). The eluate i s concentrated before gas chromatographic analysis. Sixteen organochlorine pesticide chemicals were recovered in excess of 80% from wheat samples fortified at 0.010 and 0.200 ppm. Organochlorine pesticide residues were recovered by the rapid method from 18 samples with field-incurred residues as efficiently as by t he Bertuzzi et al. method. Organochlorine pesticide residues were also recovered by t h e rapid method from 4 samples with field-incurred residues and from 2 wheat samples, spiked at 0.500 ppm as efficiently as by the total extraction method of Mumma et al. The rapid method offers a savings in time and solvents over.the Bertuzzi et al. method for the determination of organochlorine pesticide residues in wheat.