Principal Investigator: Peter E. Sturrock (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Sponsor: GWRI
Start Date: 1984-08-01; Completion Date: 1985-08-01;
Keywords: Electrochemical Detection, HPLC, Carbamates, Triazines, 2,4-Dinitroaniline Herbicides.
Description:
The research summarized in this report investigated the application of a new electrochemical detector to the high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of water for three classes of organic pollutants: carbamate pesticides, 2, 4-dinitroaniline herbicides, and triuine pesticides. The detector is a computer-controlled device capable of being programmed to operate in many modes. Rapid-sweep square-wave voltammetry, the preferred mode of operation where applicable, was applied successfully to the triazine pesticides. For these compounds, the detector is more sensitive than a uv detector, and the swept mode of operation is useful in resolving components not separated completely by the chromatographic column. For the 2, 4-dinitroaniline herbicides, the rapid-sweep square-wave voltammetric mode was also successful. However, no clear advantage over the uv detector is evident. For the carbamate pesticides, the swept mode of operation is not suitable because of the slow kinetics for the electron-transfer reactions. However, a DC mode of operation, with extreme potential pulses for electrode cleaning, was very effective. Several of the carbamates detected in this study have not been detected by electrochemical means before. The limits of detection are much superior to those reported for uv detectors or other electrochemical detectors.