Environmental and pharmaceutical analysis of dithiocarbamates

The current review aims at a comprehensive survey of analytical methods for the determination of dithiocarbamates (DTCs) in environmental and pharmaceutical samples. Besides parent compounds, analytical approaches for various metabolites and degradation products of DTCs are considered. Special emphasis is given to analyte stability as DTCs are considerably reactive interacting with various organic and inorganic compounds; in addition, depending on the chemical nature of the substance, DTCs are prone to oxidation and hydrolysis under alkaline and acidic conditions, respectively. The review mainly focuses on chromatography but also covers applications in electrophoresis, spectrophotometry, and biosensing. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.