The role of derivatization techniques in the analysis of glyphosate and aminomethyl-phosphonic acid by chromatography

Derivatization, prior to the chromatographic analysis of the particularly polar herbicide – N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine (glyphosate, GLYP) and its main metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA)] – proved to be a key step: also in cases applying liquid chromatographic techniques. In this paper the analytical proposals for GLYP and AMPA are reviewed: performing analyses by chromatography. First sorting was based on the chromatographic separation method. Within the same chromatographic techniques, like gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC), distinction was made between GLYP and AMPA separations in their initial forms (without derivatization) and as various derivatives. The examined matrix, enrichment, derivatization, acquisition protocols, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ) data were listed; additional herbicide(s), analyzed in a single run, were also shown. Special attention was paid to the selectivity and sensitivity properties of methods. Analytical performance characteristics were documented and commented in details.