Abstract

APPLICATION OF GC-MS IN DETERMINATION OF MALATHION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES

Mohamed W. Ibrahim, Ahmad A. Mohamad and Ahmed M. Ahmed*

ABSTRACT

A sensitive gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed for determination of malathion in water samples. In this study, determination of malathion has been carried out according to standard method for water and wastewater analysis. Samples of collected water were drinking water, agriculture stream water, large stream water and shallow ground water from three governorates in Egypt: Assiut, Beni Suef and Sharkia. Malathion was extracted by liquid- liquid extraction and analyzed by GC-MS. The chromatographic separation was performed using a ZB5 column (30 m ×0.53 mm, 1.50 μm), and helium as a carrier gas. The limit of detection and limit of quantification for malathion were 0.62 and 2.07μg/L respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions were lower than 2.28% while the accuracy ranged from 99.47% to 102.27%. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied for determination of malathion in water samples. Malathion was observed in some agricultural streams and shallow groundwater agricultural areas.

Keywords: Determination, Malathion, Water samples, GC-MS method.