Phosphate addition enhances alkaline extraction of glyphosate from highly sorptive soils and aquatic sediments

BACKGROUND Analytical constraints complicate environmental monitoring campaigns of the herbicide glyphosate and its major degradation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA): their strong sorption to soil minerals requires harsh extraction conditions. Coextracted matrix compounds impair downstream analysis and must be removed before analysis. RESULTS A new extraction method combined with subsequent capillary electrophoresis‐mass spectrometry for derivatization‐free analysis of glyphosate and AMPA in soil and sediment was developed and applied to a suite of environmental samples. It was compared to three extraction methods from literature. We show that no extraction medium reaches 100% recovery. The new phosphate‐supported alkaline extraction method revealed (1) high recoveries of 70–90% for soils and aquatic sediments, (2) limits of detections below 20 μg kg−1, and (3) a high robustness, because impairing matrix components (trivalent cations and humic acids) were precipitated prior to the analysis. Soil and sediment samples collected around Tübingen, Germany, revealed maximum glyphosate and AMPA residues of 80 and 2100 μg kg−1, respectively, with residues observed along a core of lake sediments. Glyphosate and/or AMPA were found in 40% of arable soils and 57% of aquatic sediment samples. CONCLUSION In this work, we discuss soil parameters that influence (de)sorption and thus extraction. From our results we conclude that residues of glyphosate in environmental samples are easily underestimated. With its possible high throughput, the method presented here can resolve current limitations in monitoring campaigns of glyphosate by addressing soil and aquatic sediment samples with critical sorption characteristics. Alkaline glyphosate extraction is boosted by adding phosphate. Together with capillary electrophoresis‐mass spectrometry, glyphosate was monitored in soil and sediment samples strongly differing in physicochemical characteristics. © 2022 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.