Detection of lead in Zea mays by dual-energy X-ray microtomography at the SYRMEP beamline of the ELETTRA synchrotron and by atomic absorption spectroscopy.

This study is related to the application of the X-ray dual-energy microradiography technique together with the atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) for the detection of lead on Zea mays stem, ear, root, and leaf samples. To highlight the places with lead intake, the planar radiographs taken with monochromatic X-ray radiation in absorption regime with photon energy below and above the absorption edge of a given chemical element, respectively, are analyzed and processed. To recognize the biological structures involved in the intake, the dual-energy images with the lead signal have been compared with the optical images of the same Z.

A multi-lysimeter investigation on the mobility and persistence of pesticides in the loam soil of the Fucino Plain (Italy).

In order to evaluate the impact of intensive horticulture on the water resources of the Fucino Plain, one of the most important agricultural settlements of Central Italy, the mobility and persistence in the soil of five commonly used pesticides was investigated by means of multi-lysimeter experiments. The fate of simazine, carbaryl, dicloran, linuron and procymidone was evaluated in the laboratory under experimental conditions simulating as closely as possible both pesticide application and irrigation practices required by the local crops. An efficient extraction procedure followed by chromatographic analysis, allowing the simultaneous determination of the applied chemicals, was used to monitor the pesticide residues in the soil columns as a function of time from application and depth.

HPLC with diode-array detection for the simultaneous determination of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate and mono(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in seminal plasma.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) and its major metabolite mono(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (MEHP) in seminal plasma was developed and validated. The method involves liquid-liquid extraction followed by isocratic reversed-phase chromatography with diode-array detection. The recovery, selectivity, linearity, precision and accuracy of the method were evaluated from the analysis of spiked seminal plasma samples.

Comparison of different sorbents for multiresidue solid-phase extraction of 16 pesticides from groundwater coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography.

A procedure based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detection has been developed for the simultaneous analysis of 16 widely used pesticides in groundwater samples. The compounds analysed were: aldicarb, atrazine, desethylatrazine, desysopropylatrazine, carbofuran, 2,4-D, dicloran, fenitrothion, iprodione, linuron, metalaxyl, metazachlor, phenmedipham, procymidone, simazine and vinclozolin. Five different SPE sorbents, C(18) bonded silica (Isolute SPE C18 (EC)), graphitised carbon black (Superclean Envi-Carb), highly cross-linked polystyrene-divinylbenzene (Lichrolut EN), divinylbenzene-N-vinylpyrrolidone (Oasis HLB) and surface modified styrene-divinylbenzene (Strata X), were compared.

Evaluation by chemical parameters of the pollution state of the agricultural-industrial settlement of the Fucino Plain.

In the present work are reported the results of a monitoring on a vast scale, carried out through evaluation of opportune chemical parameters, of the pollution state of the agricultural-industrial settlement of the Fucino Plain. The parameters took into consideration have been the presence of wide consumption pesticides and of ionic species as Cl-, NO2-, NO3-, NH4+, the quantification of the dissolved oxygen, of the temperature, of the conductivity, of pH and eH. Collected data are used for chemometric elaboration.