Photodegradation and Flow-Injection Determination of Simetryn Herbicide by Luminol Chemiluminescence Detection

Abstract

A novel and simple flow injection chemiluminescence method is reported for the determination of simetryn, a common herbicide. The method is based on the direct oxidation of luminol by the photoproducts of the simetryn in alkaline medium in the absence of catalyst/oxidant. The linear concentration range was 0.01 - 2 µg mL^-1 simetryn with a correlation coefficient (r²) of 0.9997 and relative standard deviations (RSD; n = 4) in the range of 0.9 - 2.3%. The limit of detection (S/N = 3) was 7.5 ng mL^-1 with a sample throughput of 100 h^-1. The proposed method has been applied to determine simetryn in natural waters using Sep-Pak C₁₈ cartridges for solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure. The recoveries were in the range of 97 ± 1 to 104 ± 2%. The mechanism of chemiluminescence reaction has also been discussed briefly.