Determination of atrazine and fenarimol extraction efficiency by thin-layer chromatography

In the valley of the Neretva River the use of pesticides is widespread and occasionally uncontrolled. In view of the resulting ecological and health problems ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE) followed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was applied in order to quantify the pesticides present in the soil. Quantification was performed by means of a 3 Charge Coupled Device (CCD) color video camera. The experiments were conducted on two previously characterised soil types. Chemical analysis showed that soil 1 contained much more iron and aluminium oxides than soil 2, which was rich in humic substances. Recovery of atrazine and fenarimol from soil 1 was 99.9 ± 2.9 and 94.3 ± 1.9%, and from soil 2 91.0 ± 2.1 and 89.6 ± 4.2%, respectively.