Stereo- and enantioselective determination of pesticides in soil by using achiral and chiral liquid chromatography in combination with matrix solid-phase dispersion

The separation of enantiomers and diastereomers of 8 commonly used pesticides was investigated by liquid chromatography (LC) using a Chiralcel OD column (cellulose tris-3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate as the chiral stationary phase) and a Pirkle-type Chirex 3020 column (urea derivative from the reaction of (R)-1-(alpha-naphthyl)ethylamine with (S)-tert-leucine, chemically bonded to 3-aminopropylsilanized silica as the chiral stationary phase). The pesticides studied included one organophosphorus insecticide (phenthoate), 3 triazole fungicides (uniconazole, diniconazole, and propiconazole), and 4 pyrethroids (fenpropathrin, beta-cypermethrin, beta-cyfluthrin, and alpha-fenvalerate). The enantiomers were separated within 20 min with a resolution of > or = 1.5 using a mixture of n-hexane and 2-propanol as the mobile phase for all the pesticides studied except propiconazole, for which only the 2 diastereomers were baseline separated. This method allows determination of the enantiomers or stereoisomers of the above pesticides in soil. The strategy was as follows: (1) First, the total concentration(s) of the enantiomer pair(s) of a chiral pesticide in soil was (were) determined by a newly developed matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) procedure, followed by silica-based LC quantification. The recoveries ranged from 76.5 to 93.6% with relative standard deviations of 6.0%. (2) Second, the enantiomeric ratio(s) (ER(s)) of the chiral pesticide was (were) determined by LC with a chiral stationary phase after fractionation of the MSPD extract by silica-based LC. The determined ERs or stereoisomeric ratio(s) (SR(s); for propiconazole, only the SR of the 2 diastereomers was determined) in soil samples spiked with the above 8 racemic pesticides agreed with those of the corresponding standard solutions. (3) Third, based on the total concentrations and the corresponding ERs, the concentration of each enantiomer in soil was calculated. The proposed method is rapid, precise, and sensitive, and is appropriate for the investigation of the stereo- and enantioselective degradation of pesticides in environmental media.