Capillary electrophoretic determination of dithiocarbamates and ethyl xanthate

A simple and sensitive capillary electrophoretic method was developed for t he separation and determination of sodium methyldithiocarbamate (metham), m anganese ethylenebisdithiocarbamate (maneb) and ethyl xanthate in boric aci d buffer by direct UV absorbance detection at lambda = 254 nm. The separati on is dependent on pH and nature of the buffer. The detection limits (S/N = 3) are 1.7 x 10(-6) mol/L for ethyl xanthate, 1.3 x 10(-6) mol/L for metha m and 2.1 x 10(-6) mol/L for maneb. The method has been successfully applie d to the analysis of wheat samples spiked with maneb and in a commercial sa mple.