Quality control of Metamitron in agrochemicals using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the middle and near range

NIR determination provides a sample frequency of 120 h−1, higher than that found by MIR and liquid chromatographic methods (60 and 15 h−1, respectively). On the other hand, the NIR method reduces the solvent consumption and waste generation, to only 1 ml acetonitrile per sample as compared with 3.4 ml chloroform required for the MIR determination and 60 ml acetonitrile used in the chromatographic reference procedure. So, vibrational procedures can be considered serious alternatives to long and time consuming chromatographic methods usually recommended for quality control of commercially available pesticide formulations.