New procedures for simultaneous determination of mesotrione and atrazine in water and soil. Comparison of the degradation processes of mesotrione and atrazine

A method for the determination of residues of mesotrione, atrazine and its degradation products: deethylatrazine, hydroxyatrazine, deisopropylatrazine, desethyldesisopropylatrazine in a variety of water and soil matrices has been developed. Mesotrione is a new selective herbicide for use in corn, which has been substituted for atrazine, which has been banned in European Union countries since 2007. Although atrazine has not been used for three vegetative periods, it is still detected in the environment. The analysis was conducted by means of ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection and liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The procedures for analyte separation from water and soil matrices were also established. The optimal conditions for solid-phase extraction (SPE) were determined. The recoveries were compared with that obtained by means of SPE. Method fortification recoveries from water samples averaged 78–97% and for soil 80–97% depending on the analyte and type of sample. The limits of detection were 0.04–0.61 μg/L for water samples and for soil samples 0.02–0.88 μg/g. The soil samples were collected in spring 2009 from three different fields with water samples being made from effluents from these fields. Samples collection was conducted in the day of mesotrione (Callisto 100SC) application and then done weekly, until the mesotrione concentration was below the limit of quantification. The results enabled the monitoring of mesotrione degradation in soil and its permeability into surface waters; simultaneously, the same studies were conducted for atrazine.