Tandem mass spectrometry of herbicide residues in lipid-rich tissue.

A tandem mass spectrometry procedure, originally developed for bacterial biofilms was adapted for the identification of herbicide residues in lipid-rich tissue of amphipods collected from microcosms in a prairie wetland. For this application, the amounts of tissue employed (less than 1 mg wet weight), and detection of target analytes at picogram levels, were similar to the values reported for bacterial biofilms. Described is an application of the technique for the identification of residues of the herbicide S-2,3,3-trichloroallyl diisopropyl thiocarbamate (triallate; trade name Avadex-BW). For amphipods collected from microcosms exposed to the herbicide 2-[4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenoxy]propionic acid methyl ester (diclofop-methyl, trade name Hoe Grass), there were detectable levels of only the hydrolysis product, diclofop acid, in the lipid-rich tissue. Other transformation products reported for bacterial biofilms were not observed in the amphipods.