DETERMINATION OF CARBENDAZIM IN WATER BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE IMMUNOAFFINITY CHROMATOGRAPHY ONLINE WITH HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH DIODE-ARRAY OR MASS-SPECTROMETRIC DETECTION

An automated method for the determination of carbendazim in water that combines high-performance immunoaffinity chromatography (HPIAC), high -performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the reversed-phase mode, and detection by either UV-Vis diode array detector (DAD) spectroscopy or mass spectrometry (MS) is presented here. This method allows for t he on-line extraction, preconcentration, and positive confirmation of carbendazim with a throughput of one sample analyzed every 10 min. The method requires minimal manual sample pretreatment, yet it is free fr om coextracted interferences that often occur in solid-phase extractio ns based on nonspecific sorbents. The linear range of the calibration curve for 200-mu l injections of carbendazim is 0.025 to 100 mu g/l fo r HPIAC-HPLC-MS and 0.075 to 100 mu g/l for HPIAC-HPLC-DAD. Because th e calibration curve is mass-dependent, lower detection limits could be achieved by applying larger sample volumes to the HPIAC column. The w ithin-day precision is +/-4.5% for HPIAC-HPLC-MS and +/-16% for HPIAC- HPLC-DAD for samples containing 0.1 mu g/l carbendazim. The results fr om this method correlate well with results from an ELISA.