Abstract

Applied all over the world, pesticides are some of the most dangerous pollutants of the environment because of their mobility and ability to accumulate in the environment and their consequent long-term adverse effects on living organisms in general and human health in particular. For these reasons, it is essential to monitor and analyze pesticide residues in the environment. This entry discusses the classification of pesticides as well as their effects on and their fate in the environment. Since legal regulations have come into force stipulating highest permissible levels of pesticides and their residues in the environment, the analytical techniques applied are sensitive, selective, and appropriate to the low concentrations of the target analytes. The analysis of environmental samples for the presence of pesticides is very difficult: the processes involved in sample preparation are labor-intensive and time-consuming and may be a source of additional contamination and error; the low concentration levels of analytes and matrix complexity cause yet more problems. The extraction and determination of pesticide residues in environmental samples are discussed, as are the techniques most commonly used in these processes. The difficulties occurring at each stage in the analytical procedure are outlined.