A Simplified Method for Determination of Pentachlorophenol and Hexachlorobenzene in Soil Contaminated by Industrial Chemical Residues

摘要

Monitoring soils for persistent pesticides requires rapid, simple, accurate, and reliable multiresidue methods for determination of the most common soil polluting pesticides (Nascimento et al., 2004; Lancas, 2003; Borghini et al., 2005). We developed a method for pentachlorophenol (PCP) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) analysis in environmental samples from an industrial area as a consequence of a serious contamination by industrial chemical residues. The greatest advantage of this methodology is the possibility to quantify PCP and HCB simultaneously by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC/ECD), with good recovery (89.66% ± 3.75 for PCP and 79.31% ± 3.55 for HCB). The study was carried out on the coastal plain of the Sao Paulo state, Brazil (45° 49′ to 47° 15′ W, 23° 50′ to 24° 30′ S, where illegal deposition of organochlorine compounds started in 1977. It has been estimated that approximately 14,000 tons of contaminated material remain inside an area of ca 100 m~2 (CSD-GEOCLOCK, 1992; Nascimento, 1995).