Simple and rapid flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of carbaryl after liquid-liquid extraction

A simple procedure was developed for the spectrophotometric determination of carbaryl and its hydrolysis product 1-naphthol in water. These compounds are extracted into xylene and back-extracted, as the 1-naphtholate, with 0.2 M NaOH. A 600-μl volume of the alkaline extract is injected into a flow analysis manifold which provides the reaction between naphtholate and 50 μg ml⁻¹ p-aminophenol solution in the presence of 0.004 M KIO₄ and spectrophotometric measurement is carried out at 596 nm. The method provides a limit of detection of 26.5 ng ml⁻¹ carbaryl and a sample frequency of 110 injections per hour. Recoveries in different types of matrices vary from 95 to 102%.