Specific determination of ferbam residues in fog-water

A specific method for the determination of a fungicide, i.e. iron(III) dimethyldithiocarbamate (ferbam) in fog-water samples is described. The method is based on the releasing of equivalent amount of iron from the fungicide and subsequently determination by spectrophotometrically or by flame-atomic absorption spectrometrically (flame-AAS). The fungicide was extracted with chloroform/toluene from the samples and digested with nitric acid. For spectrophotometric determination, the solution was then treated with ammonium thiocyanate solution in presence of the surfactants and absorbance was measured at 475 nm. Whereas, the digested solution was directly applied for flame-AAS determination of ferbam. The molar absorptivity in terms of ferbam was determined to be (3.49)×104 l mol−1 cm−1. The detection limits for spectrophotometric and flame-AAS methods were calculated to be 62 and 111 ppb ferbam (R.S.D. <1 and <3%), respectively. Whereas, the optimum concentration ranges for the analysis of ferbam are 4–120 and 1.5–55 μg in final volume, respectively. The methods are freed from interference of almost all ions [including Fe(II) and Fe(III)], which can commonly associate with ferbam in fog-water. The methods have been successfully applied to fog samples collected from agriculture sites of Raipur (central India).