Determination of triazines in soil leachates by solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC -MS) method was developed for the evaluation of the leachability order of s elected triazines (propazine, terbuthylazine, sebuthylazine, ametryn, prome tryn and terbutryn) in soil/sediment samples (organic carbon content rangin g from 0.19 to 0.42%), analysing fractions collected from a soil packed mic rocolumn elution experiments. The procedure is fast, simple, highly sensiti ve and solvent free. SPME-GC-MS was also employed for the quantitative dete rmination of triazines in the soil leachate, since the method showed good r ecovery yield. Detection limits were always better than 1 ng ml(-1). The me thod was tested on a contaminated landfill top sail. Prometryn and ametryn were identified through their MS spectra and then quantified. Terbuthylazin e was used to assess recovery. Results compared well with those obtained by solvent extraction followed by HPLC-UV detection. (C) 2000 Published by El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.