Liquid chromatographic/mass spectrometric determination of desmedipham andphenmedipham and their metabolites in soil

A simple method is described for the simultaneous determination of residues of 2 carbamate herbicides (phenmedipham and desmedipham) and related metab olites (m-aminophenol, aniline, and m-toluidine) in soil. The analytes are extracted from spiked soils with methanol. The solvent/soil suspension is c entrifuged, and the supernatant is directly injected, without any further c leanup, into a reversed-phase liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry appar atus equipped with a TurbolonSpray interface. The method was tested on 5 so ils having different physicochemical properties. Recoveries from the soil t ypes, spiked over the range of 50-200 ppb, were essentially quantitative fo r each analyte. The detection limits of the method are less than or equal t o 25 ng/g.