Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Poster Presentation
Determination of Organochlorine Pesticides Using Solid Phase Extraction
Followed by GC/ECD and GC/MS analysis
Mercedes Taylor
Faculty Mentor: Hongxia Guan
Chemistry
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are lipophilic compounds that tend to bioaccumulate
and are stored in fatty tissues and fluids such as breast milk, blood, and brain tissue.
Numerous studies have clearly linked organochlorine pesticides exposure to various
diseases including cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Water bodies often serves as a key
receiver of harmful industrial and domestic pollutants emitted from industrial and
domestic sources. Pesticides can often enter water through sewage plants, sewer
overflows, surface water runoffs and leaching from agricultural applications or even
through improper disposal. Regulatory and public concern over pesticide residues in
water supplies has been increasing, and it is important to develop a reliable method for
routine test of pesticides in water supplies.
In the current research, a novel solid-phase extraction technique uses disposable
pipette extraction (DPX) for determination of OCPs in water followed by gas
chromatographic analysis. The objective of this proposal is to develop a fast and reliable
solid phase extraction method using disposable pipette extraction (DPX) and evaluate
the suitability of two instruments, GC/ECD and GC/MS, for analysis of pesticides. Our
study showed that GC/ECD is very sensitive and selective for analysis of
organochlorine pesticides; however, it could be affected by background components.
Therefore, GC/ECD analysis followed by GC/MS confirmation provided the necessary
sensitivity and selectivity for determination of OCPs in water.