DETERMINATION OF CARBENDAZIME IN LETTUCE SAMPLES BY SFE-HPLC

An SFE-HPLC method for the determination of carbendazime in lettuce le aves is described. The method involves a prior lyophilization of the s ample and subsequent extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide cont aining methanol. The extraction conditions are as follows: amount of l yophilized sample, 1 g; CO2 density, 0.75 g/ml; temperature, 50-degree s-C; flow-rate, 1.8 ml/min; dynamic extraction time, 25 min. Carbendaz ime is determined with an octadecylsilane column, an acetonitrile/wate r 30: 70 mobile phase and fluorescence detection at 285/317 nm. Carben dazime recoveries from spiked samples were all close to 100 %. A compa rison with the results from a conventional method for the determinatio n of carbendazime reveals the new method to be more rapid, simple and reproducible for samples with low concentrations of analyte.