High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for Analysis of Carbendazim Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

A simple high performance liquid chromatographic method for analysis of carbendazim residues in fruits and vegetables was developed. Samples were first extracted into ethyl acetate, then into sulphuric acid and finally partitioned into dichloromethane after pH adjustment. HPLC analysis was carried out using a UV detector set at 286 nm and a C-18 ODS reverse phase column with a mobile phase consisting of 10% v/v phosphate buffer in water-acetonitrile (55:45). The limit of determination of the method was 0.05 mg kg⁻¹. The average recoveries of carbendazim obtained from samples of mango, grape, onion, chilli and tomato by this method ranged from 78.5 to 101.4 per cent.