Assessment of Triazine Herbicides in Soil by Microwave-assisted Extraction Followed by Gas Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry Detection

An alternative and fast method for the analysis of a mixture of nine triazines herbicides in soil is presented. The method is based on MAE (microwave-assisted extraction) of herbicides using ethyl acetate as extractant. The economy in the use of solvents coupled with the decrease in extraction time and lower power consumption make MAE a technique that meets the principles of green chemistry. MAE operational parameters, extraction time, mass of the sample and extraction temperature, were optimized by RSM (response surface methodology). Determination of analytes was completed using gas chromatograph coupled to mass spectrometry detection. The selected triazines could be efficiently extracted by the solvent at 80 °C for 10 min, with 80% output of maximum power. When the optimized method was applied to analysis samples, the recoveries of analytes ranged from 81.8 to 106.0% and relative standard deviations were lower than 8.41%. The method is stable and reasonable, which can be used for the determination of ninetriazine herbicides residues in soil.