Jatinder Singh Aulakh

Thiram: degradation, applications and analytical methods

In this review a brief introduction to thiram (tetramethylthiuram disulfide; TMTD) pesticide has been given along with other applications. All the important methods available are systematically arranged and are listed under various techniques. Some of these methods have been applied for the determination of thiram in commercial formulations, synthetic mixtures in grains, vegetables and fruits. A comparison of different methods is the salient feature of this review.

Fourth derivative spectrophotometric determination of fungicide thiram (tetramethyldithiocarbamate) using sodium molybdate and its application

A procedure has been developed for the direct fourth derivative spectrophotometric determination of tetramethyldithiocarbamate by converting it into its molybdenum complex, which is then extracted in to methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). Beers law is obeyed over the concentration range 24mugmL(-1) in the final solution. The analytical sensitivity is calculated to be 0.004(d(4)A/dlambda(4)) mug(-1)mL(-1) from the slope of the calibration curve. The detection limit is 0.3mugmL(-1) for thiram (signal to noise ratio = 2). Various parameters, such as effect of acid concentration, interference of a large number of ions in the determination of thiram have been studied in detail. The method is sensitive, highly selective and can be used for the determination of thiram in a commercial sample, in mixtures with various dithiocarbamates (zineb, maneb, etc.) and from wheat grains.

Fourth derivative spectrophotometric determination of fungicide ziram (zinc(II) dimethyldithiocarbamate) in commercial samples and wheat grains

A procedure has been developed for the direct fourth derivative spectrophotometric determination of zinc(II) dimethyldithiocarbamate by converting it into its copper(II) dimethyldithiocarbamate complex, which is then dissolved in Triton X-100. Beers law is obeyed over the concentration range 0.5–30 µg/mL in the final solution. Various parameters such as the effect of pH and the interference of a number of ions on the determination of Ziram have been studied in detail. The method is sensitive and can be used for the determination of Ziram in commercial samples like Zirax and Ziron containing Ziram and from wheat grains.

Capillary electrophoretic analysis of organic pollutants.

Environmental pollutants comprise a variety of compounds from inorganic anions, cations, ionizable organic compounds and moderately hydrophobic organic compounds to highly hydrophobic organic compounds. Correspondingly different separation strategies are required for their separation. In this chapter, we have presented some methods for the separation and the analysis of the organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenoxy acids, dithiocarbamates, paraquat and diquat, endocrine disruptors, toxins and explosives.

Determination of endosulfan isomers and their metabolites in tap water and commercial samples using microextraction by packed sorbent and GC–MS

A simple, rapid, accurate and sensitive method using microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) followed by GC-MS has been pursued for the determination of organochlorine insecticide endosulfan isomers (α and β) and their metabolites (ether, lactone and sulfate). MEPS is a miniaturised version of SPE employing C18 packing material. It is very efficient technique as it employs as low as 10 μL of sample volume. The distinct feature of MEPS is the magnitude of the elution volume that could be directly injected to GC system. Various parameters such as extraction cycles, washing solvent, elution solvent, elution volume and pH, which influenced the MEPS performance, were tested and optimised. The calibration curves were obtained in the concentration range 1-500 ng/mL. The results showed a close correlation coefficient (R(2) > 0.991) for all analytes in the calibration range studied. The LOD and LOQ obtained for GC-MS under selected ion monitoring acquisition are between 0.0038-0.01 and 0.0125-0.033 ng/mL, respectively. The developed method is applicable for the quantification of these compounds in tap water and commercial samples. This method has been shown to be selective as no interferences from endogenous substances were detected by analysis. This method not only decreases sample preparation time but is cheaper, eco-friendly and easier to perform compared to traditional techniques.

Microextraction by Packed Sorbent–High-Pressure Liquid Chromatographic–Ultra Violet Analysis of Endocrine Disruptor Pesticides in Various Matrices

Microextraction by a packed sorbent (MEPS) is the miniaturized version of solid-phase extraction whereby sample volumes as small as 10 μL can be used. A syringe (100-250 μL) is used in MEPS technique, which generally contains 4 mg of solid packing material inserted as a plug. The sample preparation occurs on the surface of this bed which can be modified to provide varied sampling conditions. In the present work, MEPS has been employed as a sample preparation technique for the analysis of endocrine disruptor (ED) and suspected ED pesticides in biological and environmental samples. The pesticides aldicarb, dimethoate, propazine and terbutryn have been successfully separated by high performance liquid chromatography-ultra violet (HPLC-UV) system with acetonitrile/water as the mobile phase in the ratio 60/40. Several factors affecting the performance of MEPS technique such as the number of extraction cycles, type of washing and elution solvent were optimized. This method has been applied to the analysis of these pesticides in urine, soil and tap water samples with good recoveries in the range of 81.4-97.8%. The detection limit ranged between 0.05 and 0.6 ng mL for the analyzed pesticides.

Analysis of Small Ions with Capillary Electrophoresis

Small inorganic ions are easily separated through capillary electrophoresis because they have a high charge-to-mass ratio and suffer little from some of the undesired phenomenon affecting higher molecular weight species like adsorption to the capillary wall, decomposition, and precipitation. This chapter is focused on the analysis of small ions other than metal ions using capillary electrophoresis. Methods are described for the determination of ions of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine.