Determination of dieldrin in river water by solid phase extraction with gas chromatography-electron capture detector

Abstract

The usage of pesticides has rose to a wider scale worldwide because of the large number of production and continuous consumption mainly from agriculture fields. Dieldrin is one of the possible pesticides that may contaminates the river water through the leaching or run off process, due to its wide usage as the pest control in controlling the termites and to increase the yield of crops in agriculture. The uses of dieldrin had been banned in some countries due to its persistency and carcinogenic effects. Therefore, human exposure to this compound should be minimized. A sample preparation based on solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with gas chromatography electron captured detector (GC-ECD) was used for the extraction of dieldrin. Water samples were collected at the Skudai River, Johor Bharu, Malaysia. Water sample was extracted with a SPE cartridge. The elution solvent used was methanol. The concentration of standard dieldrin used for the calibration curve was 2- 10µg/L. The limit of detection for dieldrin is 0.1135 µg/L. Meanwhile, the limit of quantification obtained is 0.3441 µg/L. It was found that the concentration of dieldrin was below the detection limit when real water sample was analysed. The advised lifetime drinking water exposure concentration limit by the US EPA for dieldrin was at 0.002 µg/L. The SPE method coupled with GC-ECD proved to be an efficient method and was applied successfully for the determination of dieldrin in the river water sample.