| Abstract: | A sensitive, specific and convenient method for the determination of dichlorvos in air is described. The method involves the use of glass tubes containing potassium nitrate for trapping dichlorvos vapour from the air and flame-photometric gas chromatography for the determination of dichlorvos. The recovery of dichlorvos is 80% and the coefficient of variation for the method is 10%. The method gives results which compare favourably with those obtained by the Drechsel bottle procedure. In addition, the method requires only low sample volumes and can be applied to determine levels of dichlorvos in confined spaces. The sampling flow rate is not critical but storage of the sampling tubes below room temperature prior to analysis is necessary. |
