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Abstract
The worldwide application of s-Triazines as herbicides for agricultural and nonagricultural purposes, results in a significant environmental pollution. It is necessary to develop sustainable and environmental friendly techniques in order to remediate surface water from the aforementioned organic substances. Phytoremediation with the wetland plant Typha latifolia L. is a technique that could potentially aid the restoration of polluted surface water. However, there is no analytical method for the determination of terbuthylazine (TER) and its metabolites in Typha latifolia L. and the assessment of the effectiveness of such a procedure. For this reason a method based on high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of terbuthylazine (TER) and its major degradation products, desethyl-terbuthylazine, desisopropy-atrazine, hydroxy-terbuthylazine, desethyl-hydroxy-atrazine, and desethyl-hydroxy-terbuthylazine. This method includes both a cleanup and a solid phase extraction step (using Florisil and MCX cartridges, respectively) with adequate overall recovery efficiency (71–96%). The statistical evaluation of the method reveals good linearity, accuracy, and precision for the compounds determined, with RSD values not exceeding 10.5%, while the limit of detection for all analytes was found to be 17 ng g−1. This method can be employed in phytoremediation studies of TER by Typha latifolia L. in constructed wetlands.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Dr Nikolaos Papadopoulos is grateful to the Public Benefit Foundation of Alexandros S. Onassis for supporting him through a research scholarship (2004–2007).