A simple spectrophotometric method for determination of carbosulfan and propoxur

Sequential injection kinetic spectrophotometric determination of quaternary mixtures of carbamate pesticides in water and fruit samples using artificial neural networks for multivariate calibration

A new analytical method was developed for the simultaneous kinetic spectrophotometric determination of a quaternary carbamate pesticide mixture consisting of carbofuran, propoxur, metolcarb and fenobucarb using sequential injection analysis (SIA). The procedure was based upon the different kinetic properties between the analytes reacted with reagent in flow system in the non-stopped-flow mode, in which their hydrolysis products coupled with diazotized p-nitroaniline in an alkaline medium to form the corresponding colored complexes. The absorbance data from SIA peak time profile were recorded at 510 nm and resolved by the use of back-propagation-artificial neural network (BP-ANN) algorithms for multivariate quantitative analysis. The experimental variables and main network parameters were optimized and each of the pesticides could be determined in the concentration range of 0.5-10.0 microg mL(-1), at a sampling frequency of 18 h(-1). The proposed method was compared to other spectrophotometric methods for simultaneous determination of mixtures of carbamate pesticides, and it was proved to be adequately reliable and was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of the four pesticide residues in water and fruit samples, obtaining the satisfactory results based on recovery studies (84.7-116.0%).

Stability studies of propoxur herbicide in environmental water samples by liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry has been investigated for the analysis of polar pesticides in water. The degradation behavior of propoxur, selected as a model pesticide belonging to the N-methylcarbamate group, in various aqueous matrices (Milli-Q water, drinking water, rain water, seawater and river water) was investigated. Two interfaces of atmospheric pressure ionization, atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electrospray ionization (ESI), were compared during the study. Propoxur and its transformation product (N-methylformamide) were best ionized as positive ions with both APCI and ESI, while another transformation product (2-isopropoxyphenol) yielded stronger signals as negative ions only with APCI. In addition, the effects of various pH, matrix type and irradiation sources (sunlight, darkness, indoor lighting and artificial UV lamp) on the chemical degradation (hydrolysis) were also assessed. From the kinetic studies of degradation, it was found that the half-life of propoxur was reduced from 327 to 161 h in Milli-Q water with variation of irradiation conditions from dark to sunlight exposure. Degradation rates largely increased with increasing pH. The half-life of the target compound dissolved in Milli-Q water under darkness decreased from 407 to 3 h when the pH of Milli-Q water was increased from 5 to 8.5. These suggest that hydrolysis of propoxur is light-intensity and pH-dependent. In order to mimic contaminated natural environmental waters, propoxur was spiked into real water samples at 30 microg/l. The degradation of propoxur in such water samples under various conditions were studied in detail and compared. With the ion trap run in a time-scheduled single ion monitoring mode, typical limits of detection of the instrument were in the range of 1-10 microg/l.

Sensitive Determination of Propoxur by Spectrophotometry Using 3-Aminopyridine

A simple spectrophotometric method for the determination of propoxur, a widely used insecticide, in various environmental samples and pesticide formulations is described. The method is based on the coupling of the hydrolysis product of propoxur with diazotized 3-aminopyridine in an alkaline medium, to form an azo-dye which has a maximum absorbance at 463 nm. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 0.05 to 1.2 microg ml(-1) of propoxur. The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity are found to be 3.10 x 10(4) l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.007 microg cm(-2), respectively. The important analytical parameters and optimum reaction conditions were evaluated. The method is free from the interference of other commonly used pesticides and inorganic metal ions.