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Abstract
In this work, the effect of Hg(II) on the extraction efficiency of triazine and phenylurea herbicides from water samples was tested. The results showed that in the presence of Hg(II), the recoveries of the s-triazine herbicides (except hexazinon) from styrene divinylbenzene (SDVB) cartridges were significantly reduced using acetonitrile as the elution solvent, whereas acidified methanol quantitatively eluted all the herbicides. Consequently, the loss in the recoveries was not due to degradation of the compounds but rather due to irreversible adsorption onto the resin. The adsorption is probably due to ternary complex formation between the compounds, Hg(II) and the polymeric resin. The chemical structure and the basicity of the compounds affected their interaction with Hg(II). When using octadecyl (C18) cartridges, only atraton was affected. Mercury did not affect the liquid–liquid extraction of the herbicides. The findings suggest that acidic methanol is a suitable elution solvent of s-triazines from mercury-loaded water samples.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Prof. M. Koupparis for useful discussions during the preparation of the manuscript.