Extraction of permethrin from impregnated fabrics for determination by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection

Abstract

Permethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide that is largely used in the impregnation of fabrics employed for different purposes. This paper reports a detailed study on the conditions for its extraction from fabrics and for its determination by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (UHPLC-DAD). Several parameters that could affect the extraction efficiency of permethrin were evaluated, such as the extraction time, agitating mode (mechanical or ultrasound-assisted), solvent type (methanol or acetonitrile), concentration, and volume. Under optimized conditions, the extraction was performed for 10 min using a 2 × 2 cm piece of impregnated fabric and 5 mL of pure methanol. The flask containing the sample and the solvent was shaken mechanically using a horizontal roller mixer. The accuracy of the method was assessed by a recovery test, which presented satisfactory results ranging from 86.8% to 95.2%. The method was employed in the analysis of nine samples of commercial fabrics of different colors and grammages that were impregnated with permethrin. The concentration of permethrin found in these samples varied between 25.6 ± 4.2 and 934 ± 119 mg m⁻².

Keywords:

• Permethrin
• UHPLC
• extraction
• impregnated fabrics

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful to Faperj (Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, grant No. E-26/201.405/2014) and to CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, grant No. 309091/2017-9) for the financial support. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.