Ultrasonic solvent extraction of organochlorine pesticides from soil

Ultrasonic solvent extraction of the organochlorine pesticides (OCP) including α-, β-, γ- and Δ-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), heptachlor, aldrin, o,p′-DDE, dieldrin, p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDT, methoxychlor, mirex from soil is reported. The extraction procedure was optimized with regard to the solvent type, amount of solvent, duration of sonication and number of extraction steps. Determination of pesticides was carried out by gas chromatography (GC) equipped with electron capture detection (ECD). Twice ultrasonic extraction using 25 mL of a mixture of petroleum ether and acetone (1/1 v/v) for 20 min of sonication showed satisfactory extraction efficiency. Recoveries of pesticides from fortified soil samples are over 88% for three different fortification levels between 15 and 200 μg kg−1, and relative standard deviations of the recoveries are generally below 6%. Real soil samples were analyzed for OCP residues by optimized ultrasonic solvent extraction and shake-flask as well as soxhlet extraction technique. Investigated all extraction methods showed comparable extraction efficiencies. Optimized ultrasonic solvent extraction is the most rapid procedure because the use of time in ultrasonic extraction was considerably reduced compared to shake-flask and soxhlet extraction.