Prototype of a newly developed immunochemical detection system for the determination of pesticide residues in water

This paper describes the first results with a prototype instrument of a newly developed immunochemical detection system for the determination of pesticide residues in water. The principle of this technique is called flow injection immunoaffinity analysis (FIIAA) and is based on the specific binding of especially developed antibodies to the compounds of interest. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this system we chose two herbicides, commonly used in the European Union, which cause problems in drinking water supplies, namely atrazine and diuron. With this technique the measurement of these herbicides is possible in the interesting concentration range of 0.1 μg l−1, thus allowing the control and monitoring according to the EEC drinking water directive. Pesticide mixtures were analyzed for atrazine. Diuron and isoproturon had no significant effect on the analysis of atrazine, but simazine had. In addition, distilled water samples spiked with atrazine as well as unspiked and spiked real water samples were analyzed with the immunoreagents for atrazine. The amounts determined were generally in good agreement with the concentrations spiked. Until now, no major matrix effects were observed in FIIAA. The values obtained by FIIAA for spiked samples matched very well with the results of the corresponding enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).