Determination of the fungicides vinclozolin and dicloran in soils using ultrasonic extraction coupled with solid-phase microextraction Original Research Article

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to ultrasonic extraction was evaluated for extracting trace amounts of two agrochemical fungicides, vinclozolin and dicloran, in soil samples. Extraction was performed following two experimental approaches prior to the submission of the aqueous extracts to SPME–GC analysis. In the first approach, extraction involved sample homogenization with a water solution containing 5% (v/v) acetone and centrifugation prior to fiber extraction. In the second approach, the extraction of the fungicides from the soil samples was conducted using acetone as organic solvent which was then diluted with water to give a 5% (v/v) content. The pesticides were isolated with fused silica fiber coating with 85 μm polyacrylate. Parameters that affect both the extraction of the fungicides by the soil samples and the trapping of the analytes by the fiber were investigated and their impact on the SPME–GC–MS was studied. The procedures with respect to repeatability and limits of detection were evaluated by soil spiked with both analytes. Repeatability was between 5.6 and 14.2% and the limits of detection were 2–13 ng g−1. The efficiency of acetone/SPME was generally better than that for water/SPME procedure showing good linearity (R2>0.99) with coefficient variations below 9%, recoveries higher than 91% and limits of detection between 2 and 3 ng g−1. Finally, the recoveries obtained with acetone/SPME procedure were compared with the conventional liquid–liquid extraction using real soil samples. The acetone/SPME method was shown to be an inexpensive, fast and simple preparation method for the determination of target analytes at low nanogram per gram levels in soils.