Solid-phase spectrophosphorimetric determination of the pesticide o-phenylphenol in water and vegetables

A phosphorimetric method for the determination of o-phenylphenol (OPP) using filter paper as solid support and T1(I) as heavy metal enhancer of the phosphorescent signal is proposed. The phosphorescence measurements were carried out by placing the paper with the sample between two plates of quartz, thus avoiding the quenching effect produced by atmospheric oxygen and moisture. The linear dynamic range of the method was 0.5-4.0 mg L-1 and the detection and quantification limits were 0.03 and 0.11 mg L-1, respectively. The precision of the method (expressed as relative standard deviation) was 1.7% for a sample containing 2.0 mg L-1 of analyte. The method has been applied to the determination of OPP in different types of water, lettuce, string beans and peppers, with recoveries ranging between 97.1 and 100.7%.