Multiclass/multiresidue method for monitoring widely applied plant protecting agents in air during field dispersion work

A multiclass/multiresidue method for surveying the uptake of plant protecting chemicals by inhalation during field spraying work is described. Eleven nowadays mainly dispersed compounds, which cover a wide range of chemical properties, are analysed in air with personal active sampling and in one single analytical run. This has the advantage, that one basic method only needs to be implemented, calibrated and validated in a laboratory to perform varying monitoring tasks without changing the method itself. Samples were taken with Tenax sorbent tubes operated to collect the active compounds simultaneously in the vapour state, in aerosol state or bound to particles. The procedure consists of four unit operations only: sampling, elution, dilution and HPLC measurement, and is described in SOP-format. The limits of quantification, calculated as method detection limits, were between 1 and 9 μg m−3 based on 1 m3 air volume sampled (8 h). Method performance was characterised by way of generated test atmospheres and field spraying trials.