A polarization fluorescence immunoassay for the herbicide propanil

A rapid. homogeneous polarization fluorescence immunoassay (PFIA) has been developed for herbicide propanil. Polyclonal antiserum were raised in rabbi ts using 3,4-dichloroaniline coupled to succinylated bovine serum albumin ( BSA) as immunogen. The various haptens and fluorescein-labeled tracers were synthesized to achieve high-sensitivity PFIA. The method can detect propan il concentrations in the range 1-100 ng/mL in 50 muL of sample. Analysis of one sample takes less then 1 min. In order to achieve better sensitivity a preconcentration step is possible and has been done for the low concentrat ion samples. The use of SPE was suitable to enrich the sample. allowing mea suring water samples at the limit required at EC Directive (permitted resid ue level in water: 0.1 ng/ml). The specificity of the PFIA for propanil was investigated using chloranilines, phenylureas, and other pesticides. Some cross-reactivity was found for closely related phenylureas (13-18%), but th e major metabolite 3,4-dichloroaniline had negligible cross-reactivity (0.1 %). SPE-PFIA and SPME-GC-MS showed a good correlation, when testing propani l in drinking water.