Glyphosate is a broadband herbicide which has been used and introduced to our environment since decades. This necessitates a detailed clarification of the degradation and enrichment of glyphosate and its degradation products in soil, river, and river sediments.

The difficulties in analyzing glyphosate are mostly based on in its physicochemical properties and the sample matrix. These include, for example complex formation with metal ions, adsorption on oxidic minerals or mobilization by phosphate. All of these phenomena have an impact on glyphosates’s bioavailability, its microbiological degradation and also on the extraction efficiency of glyphosate and its degradation products relevant for monitoring campaigns.

Experiments with isotope-labeled analytes offer the opportunity to better understand the fate of glyphosate in our environment - for example different degradation pathways, sorption behavior and bioavailability. For this reason, I aspire to develop a derivatization-free method for a quick, environmentally friendly, and efficient method for analysis of glyphosate and its degradation products using CE-MS.  Additionally, a suitable enrichment method for analysis of low concentration in aqueous matrix is necessary.