Determination of alpha-Cypermethrin from Soil by Using HPTLC

Abstract

alpha-Cypermethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide used to control insects. In soil, alpha-cypermethrin biodegrades relatively slowly under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. A high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was developed for the determination of alpha-cypermethrin from soil by microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The linearity range was between 12.5 and 1000 ng/spot, the limit of detection was 2.1 ng/spot, the limit of quantification was 6.4 ng/spot, and the recovery was 91%. The reported method was found to be sensitive, rapid, and suitable for the analysis of alpha-cypermethrin in soil and it was successfully applied to the soil samples collected from a treated agricultural field. alpha-Cypermethrin was detected in all soil samples at concentrations ranging from 78.9 to 708.7 ng g(-1).