Development and validation of an analytical method for determination of endocrine disruptor, 2,4-D, in paddy field water

The acidic herbicides are an important class of chemical compounds that are used to control a variety of weeds that threaten many crops. Owing to their low microbial activity levels, the acidic herbicides exhibit a residual activity remaining for periods of up to several months in soils and water. The principal objective of this study was to develop an analytical method based on liquid–liquid and solid‐phase extraction followed by HPLC, for the determination of 2,4‐D in paddy field water. The residues were verified via tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) in negative‐ion electrospray ionization (ESI) mode. Linearity was good over a concentration range of 1–100 µg/L with a correlation coefficient (r²) of 0.999. The mean recovery rates of triplicate results ranged from 85.2 to 90.85%. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.4 and 1.0 µg/L, respectively. The method proposed herein was applied to field samples acquired from Hampyung and Sunchang counties, Republic of Korea. The analyte was detected at a concentration range of 6.8–12.8 and 3.55–24.0 µg/L, respectively. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.