Determination of neutral and cationic herbicides in water by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography

The separation and determination of two s-triazines and two quats in water samples by MEKC was described. The influence of pH, type and concentration of buffer, concentration and type of surfactant, organic modifier and the added salt on the separation of the two neutral and the two cationic herbicides was studied. Simazine and atrazine (neutral compounds at the working pH) were little influenced by the chemical variables, while the cationic paraquat and diquat were more influenced. In the optimisation on the separation voltage, the total concentration of salt in the run buffer and the repeatability of the separation were taken into consideration. The composition of dissolution, in which the analytes were dissolved, was also studied. A solid-phase extraction method to retain and to elute the four analytes in a single step was also developed. Recoveries between 80 and 95% and R.S.D. between 6 and 10% was obtained in the analysis of a well-water sample spiked with 2 and 5 ppb of triazines and quats, respectively. Detection limits were between 0.6 and 1.9 ppb.