Polarographic Behavior and Determination of Pendimethalin in Formulations, and Environmental Samples

A differential pulse polarographic (DPP) method for the determination of pendimethalin is described based on the reduction of a nitro group at a dropping mercury electrode in BR buffers of pH 2.0 to 12.0 using 25% acetone-water mixtures as a solvent. Also, a cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique has been used to study the behavior of pendimethalin at a hanging mercury drop electrode. The differential pulse polarographic method described here has been applied to the determination of pendimethalin in formulations, grains, soils and spiked water samples. Both standard addition and calibration methods were used for the analytical measurements. The lower detection limit was found to be 1.87 × 10-8 M (M = mol dm-3).