title: Determination of herbicides and a metabolite in human urine by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.
abstract: A method was developed to determine simazine, atrazine and their metabolite, 2-chloro-4,6-diamino-1,3,5-triazine, in urine. The presence of these herbicides in urine may reflect possible exposure to pesticides. Sample preparation involved protein precipitation and solid-phase extraction. The samples were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The detection limits were 0.4 microg/l and the analytes have a linear response in the interval 6-800 microg/l. The precision of the method was reflected in the RSD of < 2.4% for the herbicides studied. Based on the detectable herbicide levels from spiked urine samples collected from unexposed volunteers, this method can be used to determine the low levels necessary for establishing reference values of the selected herbicides and the metabolite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Chemistry Institute, State University of Campinas, P.O. Box 6154, 13084-971 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Joseane M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pozzebon
authors.forename: Wagner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vilegas
authors.forename: Isabel C S F
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Jardim
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D006540:Herbicides / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D014227:Triazines / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D014227:Triazines; C092719:2-chloro-4,6-diamino-s-triazine