Determination of atrazine in aqueous soil extracts by high-performance thin-layer chromatography

Abstract

A high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method for the determination of atrazine in aqueous soil extracts was studied. To verify the applicability of the method in environmental concern studies, soil samples having different organic matter (OM) contents (1.4-24.0%) were used. Development of aqueous extracts was done on HPTLC silica gel F 254 plates and quantification was carried out by UV scanning densitometry. The method was linear between 5-200 ng with an analytical sensitivity of 0.53 ng. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 1.48 and 4.94 ng, respectively. Intra-assay variation was between 1.48 and 5.97% (RSD). Recoveries ranged from 98.7 to 103.5%.