Determining pyroxasulfone herbicide in honey samples using liquid-liquid extraction with low temperature purification (LLE-LTP).

Pyroxasulfone is a selective, systemic, pre-emergence herbicide which acts to inhibit weeds in potato, coffee, sugar cane, eucalyptus, and soybean plantations, among others. This active ingredient was classified by Brazilian legislation as a very dangerous product for the environment, and to date there are no studies involving the development of extraction methods for monitoring this compound in environmental matrices. Therefore, the objective of this study was to optimize and validate liquid-liquid extraction with low temperature purification followed by a gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry analysis to determine this herbicide in honey samples.