DETERMINATION OF ATRAZINE IN WATER USING TANDEM HIGH-PERFORMANCE IMMUNOAFFINITY CHROMATOGRAPHY AND REVERSED-PHASE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A fully automated HPLC method was developed for the analysis of atrazine in water. This method used a high-performance immunoaffinity column for the extraction of atrazine and other triazines from samples, followed by separation of the retained compounds with an on-line reversed-phase column. This technique used only 250 mu L Of Sample and required minimal sample pretreatment. Atrazine determinations by this method showed no significant interferences from the sample matrix, related triazines, or several common pesticides tested. Atrazine plus ail of its major degradation products could be determined in 20 min, with a throughput of 10 min per injection. A more rapid scheme for measuring atrazine alone was also developed, with a total analysis time of 12 min and a throughput of 6 min per injection. The calibration curve for atrazine was linear over 2 orders of magnitude and had a lower limit of detection of 0.1 mu g/L. The within-day precision was +/-5.4% for samples containing 1.1 mu g/L atrazine. The results of this method showed good correlation with those obtained by GC/MS or GC/NPD. By using different immunoaffinity columns and elution conditions, this method could be adapted for use in the determination of other compounds of environmental interest.