development of uplc-ms/ms method for analyzing phorate: application to wastewater treatment

A sensitive and selective assay based on liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for quantification of phorate in river water. the chromatographic separation of phorate was achieved on zorbax c18 column using two mobile phase consisting 0.1% formic acid in methanol, and 0.1% formic acid in milliq water (v/v ratio of 96:04) by isocratic elution method at a flow rate of 300 µl/min. the quantification was carried out using multiple reaction monitoring transitions of m/z 261/75 for phorate. the lower limit of detection and limit of quantification for the developed uplc-ms/ms was 0.08 ng/ml and of 0.19 ng/ml respectively. the assay was validated for selectivity, linearity, accuracy and precision. the developed assay was then employed for quantification of phorate in river water and wetland treated water. the role of constructed wetlands (cw) in phorate removal was established in this study. the removal efficiency of phorate by constructed wetland was found to be 60–90% along with an overall 70–90% reduction in chemical oxygen demand (cod), biological oxygen demand (bod) and phosphorus (p).