Comparison of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and high-performance liquid chromatography for the analysis of atrazine in water from Czechoslovakia.

Twenty-two water samples from Bohemian Paradise in Czechoslovakia were analyzed for atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6- isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Three samples were drinking water, the others were creek water. The amount of atrazine found by EIA ranged from 0.2 to 12,700 ng/ml and 0.10 to 10,300 ng/ml by HPLC. Agreement between the methods was good. Nine samples containing the highest concentrations of atrazine were used to check the day-to-day reproducibility of both methods at high atrazine levels. The percent coefficients of variation (% CVs) ranged from 5.9 to 26.2 for the EIA and 1.5 to 33.2 for the HPLC. Day to day % CV values for each calibrator concentration ranged from 5.7 to 10.9 for EIA and 9.9 to 13.9 for HPLC. Sensitivity of the EIA was 0.2 ng/ml while it was 0.1 ng/ml for solid phase extraction HPLC and slightly less than 60 ng/ml for direct injection HPLC.