Frimpong, S.K.Gbeddy, G..Asamoah, C.O.et al.2023-10-052023-10-0520130974 - 745http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh:8080/handle/123456789/40301Research ArticleAtrazine is a worldwide herbicide used to control pre- and post-emergence broadleaf and grassy weeds in major crops. Being both effective and inexpensive, it is well-suited to production systems with very narrow profit margins, asis often the case with maize. However, due to atrazineís ground water contamination potential and its association with birth defects and menstrual problems when consumed by humans at concentrations even below governmentstandards; environmental media monitoring for atrazine are inevitable. The objective of this study was to investigate a proposed ìsafe, cheap and relatively fastî analytical technique for the routine monitoring of atrazine in soil samples by high performance liquid chromatography equipped with ultra-violet detector and/or gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The method uses acetonitrile as the extracting solvent, and a self-packed activated silica gel for clean-up of extract. The proposed method exhibited good sensitivity and recovery, and allowed for rapid analysis. For soil analysis, a single chemist could prepare test solutions from 15 corresponding homogenized samples within 4 hours.enAtrazineHerbicideContaminationArticle