An RPLC-postcolumn detection method has been developed for the fluorimetric determination of dichloroacetamide (DCAD) in water. After ammonia and DCAD were separated on a C 18 nonpolar stationary phase with 2.5% methanol-0.02 M phosphate buffer at pH 3, the column eluant was reacted with post column reagents, o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) and sulfite ion at pH 11.5, to produce a highly fluorescent isoindole fluorophore, which was measured with a fluorescence detector (λ ex = 363 nm, λ em = 425 nm).

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... ith the optimized conditions for RPLC and the postcolumn derivatization, the calibration curve was found to be linear in the concentration ranges of 0.5 and 20 µM for DCAD, and the detection limit for DCAD was 0.18 µM (23 µg/L). This corresponded to 18 pmol per 100 µL injection volume for a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, and the repeatability and reproducibility of this method were 1.0% and 2.5% for five replicate analyzes of 2 µM DCAD, respectively. The degradation yields DCAD to ammonia were 94 and 99%, and the percent recoveries of DCAD from 4 and 6 µM DCAD-spiked tap water were shown mean more than 97%.