“…Moreover, it has been shown that HADPs constitute the most important fraction of the atrazine residues found in soil (16,25) The higher pK a values of these metabolites (HADPs pK a ) 4-5; atrazine pK a ) 2) may allow them to establish mixedmode binding mechanisms based on hydrophobic and cationicexchange interactions with soil components, while atrazine and its chlorinated metabolites are limited to hydrophobic interactions (26). Environmental monitoring of these metabolites is based on chromatographic techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC/UV) or gas chromatography with mass spectrometry identification (GC/MS) after organic solvent extraction followed by purification/ concentration steps (7,(27)(28)(29). Due to their high polarity and water solubility, an important drawback of these procedures is the low efficiency of the procedures for extraction from aqueous samples (water solubility data: atrazine, 0.15 mM; HA, 0.24 mM; DEA, 2 mM; DIA, 1.20 mM; DEDIA, DEHA, and DIHA, >2 mM) (30)(31)(32).…”