Fourier transform infrared spectrometric determination of Malathion in pesticide formulations

An environmentally friendly methodology has been developed for quality control analysis of emulsifiable concentrate pesticide formulations containing Malathion as active ingredient, using flow injection analysis (FIA)-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry. Five microlitres samples were directly injected into a 3 ml closed FIA manifold, in which 2 ml of CHCl₃ was re-circulated at 1.96 ml min⁻¹. After homogenisation and sample measurement, 2 μl volumes of a Malathion standard were injected, taking absorbance measurements after each injection. Peak height of the chemigrams, established from peak area values between 1027 and 1017 cm⁻¹, corrected with a baseline fixed from 1087 to 993 cm⁻¹ were employed for Malathion quantification using the standard addition approach, after reaching the steady state for every injection. A limit of detection of 12 μg ml⁻¹ was achieved. Results found by standard addition-FTIR in commercially available samples showed a good correlation with those obtained by the reference gas chromatography-flame ionisation detection procedure.