Rapid extraction and determination of atrazine and its degradation products from microporous mineral sorbents using microwave-assisted solvent extraction followed by ultra-HPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

We have evaluated three methods for the extraction of atrazine and six of its degradation products from microporous mineral sorbents. Soxhlet extraction and ultrasonic extraction, which work well on soils and sediments, recover only <15 % of the atrazine from a dealuminated Y zeolite. Closed-vessel microwave-assisted extraction, in contrast, gives much better recoveries. This is attributed to the accelerated mass transfer at elevated temperatures and the displacement by the solvent forced into the mineral micropores under elevated pressures. Under the optimized conditions, the recovery of atrazine from the hydrophilic Y zeolites (Si/Al ratios <8) is almost quantitative, and ∼77 % for the more hydrophobic ones. The extraction efficiencies for the degradation products of atrazine in the hydrophilic zeolites (74.1-100 %) are also higher than those in the hydrophobic ones (22.3-44.2 %). The extracted compounds were quantified by a combination of ultra-HPLC and tandem MS and resulted in detection limits between 0.04 and 1.41 mg kg −1 on a hydrophilic Y zeolite (Si/Al=2.55), and of 0.09-2.35 mg kg −1 on a hydrophobic zeolite (Si/Al=15).The method was applied to study the degradation of atrazine sorbed on dealuminated Y zeolites.

Catalytic effect of transition metals on microwave-induced degradation of atrazine in mineral micropores

“…Analytical identification and quantification were performed using selected reaction monitoring and electrospray ionization in positive mode, and calibrated by mixed standard solutions, using the method developed in a previous study (Hu and Cheng, 2013b). Due to the complex reactions involved in microwave-induced degradation (Hu et al, 2012), atrazine degradation was modeled with pseudo-zero order kinetics, which fits the data reasonably well.…”

Degradation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and its precursor dimethylamine (DMA) in mineral micropores induced by microwave irradiation

“…After the microwave treatment, the sorbents were quantitatively transferred to the Greenchem extraction vessels and extracted by microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) in a MARS system (CEM, U.S.). NDMA was extracted by 20 mL of methanol/water mixture (1:1, v/v) at 80 C for 15 min, which had been developed for recovering atrazine from Y zeolites and could achieve satisfactory recovery of NMDA (89.2%) from ZSM-5 zeolites (Hu and Cheng, 2013b). Due to its low boiling point (6.9 C), DMA was recovered from the mineral sorbents with ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), instead of MAE.…”

Atrazine, triketone herbicides, and their degradation products in sediment, soil and surface water samples in Poland

“…These compounds, similar to parent one, are persistent in the environment and toxic (potent endocrine disrupters) (Ghanem et al 2008; Hu and Cheng 2013). …”