Investigation on the influence of methanol on adsorption and leaching of pesticides with soil column liquid chromatography

The effect of methanol of low concentration on adsorption and leaching of atrazine and tebuconazole was studied in this paper. The adsorption coefficients and the retardation factors (Rm) of pesticides on EUROSOIL 3# log-linearly decreased as volumetric fraction of methanol (fc) was increased in the binary solvent mixtures of methanol and water. These data are consistent with solvophobic theory formerly outlined for describing the adsorption and transport of hydrophobic organic chemicals from mixed solvents. Nevertheless, the adsorption of these pesticides in soil–water system slightly increased when the soil was pre-washed with methanol in comparison with that pre-washed with water (pure water system). Furthermore, their adsorption coefficients were still higher in binary solvent systems with methanol of very low concentrations, i.e. fc<0.03 for atrazine and fc<0.01 for tebuconazole, than those in pure water system. The adsorption coefficients (logKw) of atrazine and tebuconazole predicted by solvophobic theory were 0.5792 and 1.6525, respectively, and their experimental logKw were 0.3701 and 1.6275 in pure water system. Obviously, the predicted logKw of the two pesticides was higher than the experimental log Kw in pure water system. The predicted Kw and the retardation factor (Rw) in pure water system by solvophobic theory are thus possibly inaccurate.