THE DETERMINATION OF ABAMECTIN FROM SOIL AND ANIMAL TISSUE BY SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID EXTRACTION AND FLUORESCENCE DETECTION

The insecticide abamectin is extracted from soil and animal tissue by supercritical fluid extraction. Supercritical carbon dioxide modified with 9% 2-methoxyethanol extracted abamectin from soil samples at leve ls up to 11 ng g-1 with greater than 80% efficiency. Recovery at forti fication levels of 5 ng g-1 were obtainable without the need for clean -up. Abamectin was also easily extracted from animal tissue at levels of 22 ng g-1 without interfering coextractives. Extracted abamectin wa s determined by liquid chromatography of a fluorescent derivative.