title: Simultaneous determination of paraquat and diquat in urine by capillary electrophoresis.
abstract: Qualitative and quantitative detection of paraquat and diquat in urine was performed by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). In non-extracted urine, these two closely related herbicides were hydrodynamically or electrokinetically injected into the capillary and well separated in a acidic (pH 3.0) buffer (10 mM glycin, 50 mM NaCl and 20% methanol) within 8 min. The analytes can be identified by their respective migration time with no interfering endogeous compounds around. The peaks were further confirmed by their respective multi-wavelength scanning spectra. Limits of detection (LOD) were 0.2 and 0.1 mg/ml for PQ and DQ, respectively, in nonextracted urine using hydrodynamic injection. Detection sensitivity was greatly improved by solid phase extraction of the compounds followed by CZE using electro-injection under which LODs were 15 and 8 ng/ml for paraquat and diquat respectively. We conclude CZE is a useful method for laboratory diagnosis of herbicide intoxication.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Kaohsiung Medical College, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D004178:Diquat / Q000652:urine*; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary; D006540:Herbicides / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D010269:Paraquat / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D004178:Diquat; D010269:Paraquat