DossierLuminescence spectroscopy such as the need for pretreatment procedures in the case of weakly volatile and/or thermally labile pesticides (e.g., carbamates, phenylureas and sulfonylureas). The second most utilized method is HPLC, with UV-visible absorption detectors; it remains the technique of choice for screening work.The use of luminescence techniques (especially fluorescence) for organic pesticide residue analysis has been limited by the fact that, relatively few of these compounds are strongly luminescent. However, many compounds do possess the necessary degree of aromaticity and may be converted into luminescent species using a variety of methods. Hence, two distinct cases have to be considered. (i) If the pesticide under study is luminescent, then it can be determined directly; (ii) if the pesticide is non or weakly luminescent, it can be converted into a luminescent compound using various physicochemical means, including chemical and/or photochemical reactions.Derivatization reactions constitute an important aspect of pesticide luminescence analysis since many pesticides have one or more functional groups and can be converted into more stable derivatives to successfully ensure environmental analysis. The number of papers, especially reviews [8][9][10][11][12][13] and books [14][15][16][17], in which this subject is discussed, demonstrates this increase of the derivatization use.In this review, the most important publications concerning significant advances in the luminescence methodology, instrumentation and applications to environmental analysis of pesticides will be reported. We will describe the recent available literature on direct and indirect fluorimetric methods, photochemically-induced fluorescence, photosensitized fluorescence and phosphorimetric methods used for pesticide analysis. As it will be shown, recent instrumentation, including sophisticated electronics and precise optical systems, makes luminescence a highly sensitive and selective tool for pesticide residue detection.
Fluorimetric methodsAn early work on the fluorescence of pesticides has been performed in stationary solutions, (i.e., batch procedure) by