Determination of trace amounts of chlorinated insecticides and fungicides in ginseng using capillary gas chromatography and 63Ni electron capture detector

A method for the simultaneous determination of a series of chlorinated insecticides and fungicides as residues in ginseng is presented in this article. Pulverized samples are subjected to Soxhlet extraction with acetone-petroleum ether and the extract is partitioned between petroleum ether and aqueous sodium sulfate solution (2:98). The combined petroleum ether phase is cleaned up by sulfuric acid and analyzed by capillary gas chromatography using 63Ni electron capture detector. Recoveries from the different concentrations for 11 kinds of chlorinated insecticides and fungicides are between 92.40 and 103.7% with coefficients of variations ranged 1.22 and 9.53% without samples, and between 89.00% and 104.10% with coefficients of variations between 1.16% and 9.16% with samples. The detection limits are 0.2- 7.0 ng/kg.