ABSTRACT
The effect of environmental parameters (temperature and relative humidity) on the degradation rate of azinphos methyl and parathion methyl was studied. Proprietary emulsifiable concentrates were diluted and added to each of 90 glass Petri dishes for each pesticide and were left overnight to dry. Petri dishes were placed in 18 air-tight containers (9 for each pesticide) in which were created environments with relative humidity (RH) of 60, 82, and 96%. The containers were stored at 0, 20, and 40 degrees C. From the experimental results best fit curves, kinetic equations, rate constants, and half-lives were calculated. Half-lives of azinphos methyl for the RH studied were, from 124 to 267 days at 0 degrees C, from 89 to 231 days at 20 degrees C, and from 25 to 71 days at 40 degrees C. Corresponding half-lives for parathion methyl were from 48 to 57 days at 0 degrees C, from 9.2 to 10.5 days at 20 degrees C and from 1.3 to 1.5 days at 40 degrees C. The results were correlated with relevant results from the decomposition of the same or similar pesticides on apples both, on the trees and during refrigerated storage. These correlations are suggesting that biological factors strongly affected the decomposition rate of azinphos methyl. On the contrary the decomposition of parathion methyl was mainly affected by environmental rather than biological factors.
Subject(s)
Azinphosmethyl/chemistry , Insecticides/chemistry , Methyl Parathion/chemistry , Chromatography, Gas/methods , Food Preservation , Half-Life , Humidity , Kinetics , Malus/chemistry , Pesticide Residues/analysis , TemperatureABSTRACT
A rapid, selective and sensitive multi-residue method for the determination of six common pesticides in stone fruit samples is described. The proposed method involves the extraction of the pesticides with the use of acetone solvent followed by liquid-liquid partition with a mixture of dichloromethane and light petroleum (40-60 degrees C) and subsequent determination by a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometry system using ion trap technology in negative ion chemical ionization mode. The average percent recoveries of bromopropylate and phosalone in the concentration range 0.2-2.0 mg/kg were 97.3 +/- 6.7 to 120 +/- 1.0%, while the recoveries of chlorpyrifos and parathion methyl examined in the concentration range 0.02-0.2 mg/kg were 95.5 +/- 7.5 to 145 +/- 3.6%, the recoveries of azinphos methyl in the range 0.05-0.5 mg/kg were 74.8 +/- 29.6 to 96.5 +/- 13% and those of dimethoate in the range 0.1-1.0 mg/kg were 73.1 +/- 5.7 to 92.8 +/- 2.8% for n = 3 for all the above pesticides. The high mean recovery (145%) for chlorpyrifos is attributed to a matrix enhancement effect. The limits of quantitation in apricots were 0.01 mg/kg for chlorpyrifos, 0.02 mg/kg for dimethoate and parathion methyl, 0.05 mg/kg for azinphos methyl and phosalone and 0.1 mg/kg for bromopropylate. The usefulness of tandem mass spectrometry for confirmation purposes was also examined. The method was applied successfully to the determination of the target pesticides in 32 samples of stone fruits (apricots and peaches).
Subject(s)
Fruit/chemistry , Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods , Pesticide Residues/analysis , Prunus/chemistry , Azinphosmethyl/analysis , Benzilates/analysis , Chlorpyrifos/analysis , Dimethoate/analysis , Methyl Parathion/analysis , Organothiophosphorus Compounds/analysis , Sensitivity and SpecificityABSTRACT
A study of the correlation between the refractive index (RI) method adopted by the European Community (EC) and a reference pycnometric method for the measurement of alcoholic strength was undertaken. A new RI method with greater accuracy was also developed. Alcoholic strength measured by both RI methods presented a relatively constant negative bias compared with results by the pycnometric method. Differences found between the RI methods and the pycnometric method were 0.6-0.9% (v/v) when RI was measured by the EC method and 0.4-0.5% (v/v) when the new RI method developed in our laboratory was used. Statistical analysis of the results showed that differences between the 2 RI methods and the reference pycnometric method were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. Correction factors are proposed for the accurate use of measurements of alcoholic strength obtained for small volume samples.
