Gas chromatography mass spectrometry of some thermally labile urea pesticides.

The application of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to three thermally labile phenylurea pesticides is reported. Using alcohols as solvents the decomposition of the pesticides is followed by a reaction in which esters of N-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)carbamic acid are formed. As these reactions occur during the gas chromatographic analysis, it is the esters which are identified in the mass spectrometer. The methyl ester is itself a pesticide so an erroneous conclusion about the original pesticide could be reached when methanol is the solvent.