Separation of pesticide residues from lipids prior to gas-liquid chromatographic analysis.

Lipids are separated from dieldrin, endrin, and p,p'-DDE residues by saponification in ethanolic sodium hydroxide, acidification with dilute sulfuric acid, and adsorption chromatography on deactivated alumina, using petroleum ether as the eluant. Dieldrin, endrin, and p,p'-DDE are efficiently recovered (95-102%), and p,p'-DDT is converted to p,p'-DDE, which is then recovered with high yield (90-96%). Extremely low lipid carryover (less than 0.3-0.5%) is observed for 0.5-1.0 g samples of chicken fat.