Abstract
A liquid chromatographic (LC) method is described for the simultaneous determination of the triazine herbicides, simazine (SIM), atrazine (ATZ), and propazine (PRO) in the 12.5–100 ppb range in catfish. The herbicides are extracted from catfish homogenates with ethyl acetate, followed by solvent partitioning between acetonitrile and petroleum ether and additional cleanup on a C18 cartridge. A Supelcosil LC-18-DB column is used for LC separation, and UV determination is at 220 nm. The isocratic mobile phase is a mixture of methanol, acetonitrile, and water. Mean recoveries from catfish were 88.7, 96.9, and 91.7%; standard deviations were 6.84,7.78, and 6.26%; and coefficients of variation were 7.72,8.03, and 6.82% for SIM, ATZ, and PRO, respectively.