Liquid chromatographic method for the micro-quantitative determination of clodinafop in soil, wheat and Phalaris minor

A liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of clodinafop-propargyl herbicide. Clodinafop-propargyl was converted to clodinafop acid by alkaline hydrolysis as clodinafop-propargyl rapidly forms bioactive clodinafop acid in soil and plant environment. Recovery methods for both the acid and ester from different matrices were standardized. The sensitivity of the method for ester and acid was 5 and 2 ng, respectively, with limits of detection of 0.5 and 0.1 μg ml−1. The method was standardized for the determination of clodinafop residues in soil and plant samples using HPLC. The recovery of clodinafop from soil and plant samples with ethyl acetate was significantly higher (78–83%) than those with dichloromethane, toluene and methanol (60–70%). The limit of determination of clodinafop in soil and plant samples ranged between 1 and 1.2 ng g−1. In field soil, residues of clodinafop dissipated with a half-life of 3.44 days.