Analytical methodology for biological fluids

Applicators, mixers, loaders, and others who mix, spray, or apply pesticides to crops face potential dermal and/or inhalation exposure when handling bulk quantities of the formulated active ingredients. Although the exposure periods are short and occur only a few times annually, an estimate of this exposure can be obtained by quantifying the excreted polar urinary metabolites. Atrazine is the most studied triazine for potential human exposure purposes, and, therefore, most of the reported methods address the determination of atrazine or atrazine and its metabolites in urine. To a lesser extent, methods are also reported for the analysis of atrazine in blood plasma and serum. 

Urine was analyzed for atrazine, DEA, DIA, and DACT at the O.I-IOO agkg concentration range but detailed recovery information was not provided. A 5-mE urine sample was mixed in a tube for 15 min with 5mE of diethyl ether and 0.7 g of sodium chloride. After separation of the layers, the aqueous fraction was mixed with 5 mL of ethyl acetate for a second partitioning step. The two organic fractions 

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