Gas chromatographic determination of aldicarb and its metabolites in urine

A method is described for the determination of aldicarb and its metabolites (the sulphoxide and sulphone) in urine by gas chromatography with flame photometric detection (GC-FPD). The sample was concentrated with a column containing activated charcoal and Florisil, and then eluted with dichloromethane-acetone (1:1, v/v). The aldicarb and aldicarb sulphoxide in the eluate solution were oxidized to aldicarb sulphone and the total sulphone concentration was determined by GC-FPD after extraction with dichloromethane and clean-up with an activated charcoal column. The detection limit was 0.0024 mg/l. The mean recoveries from spiked urine in the range 0.04-0.12 mg/l were 90.9%, 86.6%, 92.6% for aldicarb, aldicarb sulphoxide and aldicarb sulphone, respectively.