Determination of poorly fluorescent carbamate pesticides in water, bendiocarb and promecarb, using cyclodextrin nanocavities and related media Original Research Article

The effect of native cyclodextrins (α, β, or γCD with six, seven and eight glucose units, respectively), hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPCD), chitosan (CHT) and glucose in water solution or water with n-propylamine (PA) as co-solvent upon the UV–vis and fluorescence properties of poorly fluorescent N-methyl carbamates pesticides (C) as bendiocarb (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-benzodioxol-4-ol methylcarbamate, BC) and promecarb (3-methyl-5-(1-methylethyl)phenol methylcarbame, PC) was examined. Fluorescent enhancement was found for both substrates with all CDs in water or PA-water except from PC with αCD. The addition of CHT increases the fluorescence of BC but decreases the fluorescence of PC, and glucose addition gives in both cases no spectral changes. Host-guest interaction was clearly determined by fluorescence enhancement with βCD and HPCD with a 1:1 stoichiometry for the complexes (C:CD). The values obtained for the association constants (KA, M−1) were (6 ± 2) × 102 and (2.3 ± 0.3) × 102 for BC:βCD and BC:HPCD complexes, respectively. For PC:βCD and PC:HPCD the values of KA were (19 ± 2) × 102 and (21 ± 2) × 102, respectively. The ratio of the fluorescence quantum yields for the bound and free substrates (ϕCCD/ϕC) was in the range 1.74–3.8. The limits of detection (LD, μg mL−1) for the best conditions were (0.57 ± 0.02) for BC with HPCD and (0.091 ± 0.002) for PC with βCD in water. Application to the analysis in pesticide spiked samples of tap water and fruit yields satisfactory apparent recoveries (84–114%), and for the extraction procedure in fruits and a commercial formulation, recoveries were of 81–98% and 104%, respectively. The method is rapid, simple, direct, sensitive and useful for pesticide analysis.