A rapid liquid chromatographic method for glufosinate analysis in maize samples after derivatisation has
been developed. The labelled glufosinate was separated on a Kromasil C18 column (250 mm 4.6 mm,
5 lm) and UV detection was applied at 360 nm. The optimisation of derivatisation conditions and the
influence of different ion-pair reagents on the separation were discussed. The method linearity correlation
coefficient was 0.9998 in concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 20 mg L1. The level of quantification
was set to 0.02 mg kg1, and reached pesticide EU-MRLs for glufosinate in the maize samples. The proposed
method was applied to the quantitative determination of glufosinate in samples with recoveries
of 98.0–100.5% and RSDs of 2.13–4.13%.