Evaluation of pesticide residue analysis of dieldrin in soil using a high resolution gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (HR-GC/MS)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using HR-GC/MS for the rapid screening of dieldrin residues in soils. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) of organochlorine pesticides such as dieldrin, were analyzed in sedimentary rock and granite rock collected from greenhouses, Niigata, Japan. Dieldrin remains in Japanese farming soils, more than 40 years after their use as insecticides was prohibited. The averages in soil moisture ranged from 2.79% to 7.20% in soils derived from sedimentary rock and from 25.59% to 31.40% in soils derived from granite rock. Mean concentrations of dieldrin residues in sedimentary rock and granite rock were $39.7ng\;g^{-1}$ and $40.51ng\;g^{-1}$, respectively. Dieldrin residue was detected at a slightly higher concentration in granite rock than sedimentary rock samples. There was no consistency between the two soils or between surface and subsurface soils. The coefficients of variation of the two soils were 10.6% and 8.7%, respectively. These results suggest that our high-resolution mass spectrometry detector (HR-GC/MS) is effective at analyzing residual organochlorine pesticides in soil. In order to increase the precision and sensitivity for chemical analysis of POPs, high-resolution gas chromatography coupled with a HR-GC/MS is highly recommended.