The application of insecticides to crops and farmland often leave residues both on the crop and soil.  Because of possible consumption of residue contaminated food or exposure to surface treated soils, accurately monitoring qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to pesticides is of great importance to society.  Malathion is an organophosphate widely used as a pesticide, and is the most commonly used organophosphate pesticide in the United States.  A method was developed utilizing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) to determine a detection limit of malathion based on EPA method 8141B. A further study showed that by analyzing only certain mass charges of the extract by a selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode analysis, a lower detection limit was possible. Soil samples were obtained and treated with malathion following the standard protocol for treating soil with the pesticide. Additionally, multiple soil types were treated to determine the effectiveness of the extraction method on different soil compositions. The malathion was then extracted using an ultrasonic extraction technique and quantitatively analyzed using bis(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide as an internal standard. A percent recovery was found for each soil type.  Extraction of malathion from plants grown in treated soil was attempted.<br/>

Recovery of malathion from soil

251st National Meeting (2016)

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