Development of automated headspace gas chromatography determination of dithiocarbamates in plant matrixes

The determination of dithiocarbamates in plant matrixes is generally carrie d out by spectrophotometric (European Norm EN 12396-1, 1996) or gas chromat ography headspace (European Norm EN 12396-2, 1999) methods; However, the fo rmer method presents a risk of carbon disulfide loss during hydrolysis and distillation and its sensitivity is low, whereas the latter method is time- consuming. In comparison to these European methods and in compliance with n orm VO5-110, we have developed an automated gas chromatography headspace me thod. This method offers a good level of accuracy and precision and is spec ific to the compound determined (CS2). The limit of detection is below 0.02 0 mg/kg and the limit of quantification is below 0.050 mg/kg. Moreover, the recovery rates are between 85 and 103% with RSD less than 20%. The automat ed headspace method has several advantages when compared to the spectrophot ometric and manual headspace methods, including the reduction of reagents e mployed for extraction and a greater number of analyses achievable per day than the other methods (approximate to 40 samples of food).