Microchip Capillary Electrophoresis Based Electroanalysis of Triazine Herbicides Kamrul Islam • Rohit Chand • Dawoon Han • Yong-Sang Kim Received: 7 May 2014 / Accepted: 5 September 2014 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract The number of pesticides used in agriculture is increasing steadily, leading to contamination of soil and drinking water. Herein, we present a microfluidic platform to detect the extent of contamination in soil samples. A microchip capillary electrophoresis system with in-channel electrodes was fabricated for label-free electroanalytical detection of triazine herbicides. The sample mixture con- tained three representative triazines: simazine, atrazine and ametryn. The electropherogram for each individual injec- tion of simazine, atrazine and ametryn showed peaks at 58, 66 and 72 s whereas a mixture of them showed distinct peaks at 59, 67 and 71 s respectively. The technique as such may prove to be a useful qualitative and quantitative tool for the similar environmental pollutants. Keywords Triazine herbicide Á Amperometric detection Á Capillary electrophoresis Á Microchip The cumulative number of studies on the effect of pesticides over the last two decades has increased substantially, espe- cially for organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates and triazines (Kohler and Triebskorn 2013). Due to potential over exposure of pesticides on non-target species, it became a prime concern to find a cost-effective, real-time, highly sensitive and specific in-field easy to operate sustainable microdevices to monitor the level of the chemical agents. Among the triazines, atrazine (2-Chloro-4-ethylamino-6- isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine), simazine (2,4-Bis-ethyla- mino-6-chloro-1,3,5-triazine) and ametryn (2-Ethylamino- 4-isopropylamino-6-methylthio-1,3,5-triazine) are herbi- cides used to control broadleaf weeds and annual grasses. Owing to their close chemical structure and properties, specific sensing from a mixture of the frequently used her- bicides is of great importance. Although many advances have been made in this area in recent years, much is yet to be accomplished. According to the United States Environmental Protec- tion Agency, people who are exposed to atrazine through drinking water could experience problems with their car- diovascular system or have reproductive difficulties (Strandberg and Scott-Fordsmand 2002). Particularly, exposure to simazine could cause problems with blood, while ametryn could cause liver toxicity. Studies have also shown that these herbicides are potent carcinogens and can induce congestion of the heart, lungs and kidneys; hypo- tension; antidiuresis; muscle spasms; weight loss, adrenal, retinal and cardiovascular damage. Long term exposure to triazine may even lead to Parkinson’s disease (Tchounwou et al. 2000). So far the analysis of pesticides are carried out by gas chromatography equipped with flame thermionic detec- tion, electron capture detection, nitrogen phosphorus detection or mass spectrometric detection (Albanis and Hela 1995; Jime ´nez et al. 1997) and liquid chromatog- raphy with diode array detection, fluorescence detection or mass spectrometric detection (Gong and Ye 1998; Tanabe and Kawata 2004). However, these methods require sample pretreatment, enrichment or extraction steps. These additional steps make the detection laborious and time-consuming, and require sophisticated technical equipment. K. Islam Complex Fluids Research Laboratory, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Republic of Korea R. Chand Á D. Han Á Y.-S. Kim (&) School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Seobu-Ro 2066, Suwon, Gyeonggi 440-746, Republic of Korea e-mail: yongsang@skku.edu 123 Bull Environ Contam Toxicol DOI 10.1007/s00128-014-1378-3