ABSTRACT
An important class of pesticides is organophosphorus compounds. Organic phosphates can cause moderate-to-severe acute poisoning. These substances inhibit the function of the enzyme, acetylcholinesterase by phosphorylating or binding the enzyme at its esteratic site. Gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry techniques are the most common instrumental methods to analyze organophosphorus pesticides. These substances may also be analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, there are no systematic precision and accuracy studies published on the HPLC determination of environmental samples. The detector required for GC analysis is either a nitrogen–phosphorus detector operated in the phosphorus specific mode, or a flame photometric detector operated in the phosphorus-specific mode. The chapter lists some of the common pesticides. A halogen-specific detector, such as electrolytic conductivity or microcoulometric detector, may alternatively be used for GC analysis of only those pesticides that contain halogen atoms. The chapter also lists some of these halogen-containing organophosphorus pesticides and the primary and secondary characteristic ions of some organophosphorus pesticides.
