2023 Volume 33 Pages 74-82
We developed a novel mass spectrometric method using atmospheric pressure gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (APGC/MS/MS) with nitrogen as the carrier gas to quantify simazine and thiobencarb under the regulatory environmental quality standards for water pollution. We modified the previous official method and optimized the sample preparation procedure using solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges. Our study demonstrated good recoveries for simazine and thiobencarb in all SPE cartridges, with the percentage recoveries ranging from 70% to 120%. Of the examined SPE cartridge, a marked measurement precision with the least variation was achieved on Smart-SPE PLS3-20 (PLS3) cartridge, which is packed with nitrogen-containing divinylbenzene methacrylate. Consequently, we selected the PLS3 SPE cartridge for the sample preparation in this method. Moreover, The method's detection and quantification limit values for simazine and thiobencarb in river and seawater samples were one order of magnitude lower than those of the environmental quality standard values. Furthermore, simazine and thiobencarb were identified and quantified with excellent separation, minimizing potential interferences.
