ABSTRACT
GC and GC/MS techniques are the most common instrumental methods to analyze organophosphorus pesticides. ese substances may also be analyzed by HPLC. However, there are no systematic precision and accuracy studies published on the HPLC determination of environmental samples. e detector required for GC analysis is either a nitrogenphosphorus detector (NPD) operated in the phosphorus speci c mode, or a ame photometric detector (FPD) operated in the phosphorus speci c mode.* us, any pesticide can be analyzed by GC-NPD or GC-FPD using a suitable capillary column as listed below. Some of the common pesticides are listed in Table 42.1. A halogen speci c detector, such as electrolytic conductivity or microcoulometric detector, may alternatively be used for GC analysis of only those pesticides that contain halogen atoms. Some of these halogen-containing organophosphorus pesticides are presented in Table 42.2. e analysis of organophosphorus pesticides by GC/ MS should be the method of choice wherever possible. is is a con rmatory test to identify the compounds from their characteristic ions in addition to their retention times. Table 42.3 lists the primary and secondary characteristic ions of some common organophosphorus pesticides.
