Method for the simultaneous extraction and analysis of two current use pesticides, atrazine and lambda-cyhalothrin, in sediment and aquatic plants.

It has been estimated that 375,000 tons of pesticides are used for agriculture annually in the Midwest area of the United States, where approximately 65% of this total is used for production of corn and soybean crops (Clark et al., 1999). Within the Mississippi River Basin, greater than 100,000 tons of herbicides are used annually (Clark et al., 1999). Triazine herbicides (e.g. atrazine) and synthetic pyrethroids insecticides (e.g. λ−cyhalothrin) are two classes of pesticides currently used in this agricultural area. These two types of pesticides are very dissimilar, due to their differences in structural and physical properties. A major difference between these pesticides is polarity, where triazines are relatively more polar than pyrethroids.