COMPARISON OF CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS, HPLC, AND ENZYME-IMMUNOASSAY FOR TERBUTHYLAZINE DETECTION IN WATER

Tap water and groundwater samples spiked with terbuthylazine were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE), HPLC, and a commercial enzyme immunoassay kit. Over the range of concentrations tested (0.2-2.4 pg L-l), the results obtained by the different methods were highly correlated. CE proved to be viable for the detection of terbuthylazine, with good resolution and reproducibility. The detection limit of CE is higher than that of HPLC to detect the lowest concentration of terbuthylazine (0.2 pg L-l), but retention times were shorter. Compared to enzyme immunoassay, CE and HPLC needed sample extraction and concentration before analysis but showed higher accuracy and lower variation.