IN T R O D U C T IO N

HISTORY

W h a t a re
in s e c t ic id e
s and
p e s t ic id e s ?

P e s t ic id e s a re
c h e m ic a l
su b sta n c e s
u s e d t o k ill
in s e c t s a n d
a n im a ls t h a t
d e s t ro y c r o p s .
They have
s ig n ifi c a n t
im p a c t s o n
h u m a n h e a lt h
a n d th e
e n v iro n m e n t ,
even at
e x t re m e ly lo w
c o n c e n t r a t io n s
.
D D T is t h e
m o s t p o p u la r
e x a m p le
In s e c t ic id e s
a re m o re o r
t h e s a m e lik e
p e s t ic id e s a n d
a re u s e d f o r
c o n t ro llin g t h e
g ro w t h o f
in s e c t s t h a t
d e s t ro y t h e
c ro p .
In u r b a n
a re a s , u s e d t o
fi g h t
m o s q u it o e s
a n d a n ts a n d
c o c k ro a c h e s .

Since before 20BC, humans have

utilized pesticides to protect their
crops. The first known persicide
was elemental sulphur dusting
used in ancient summer about
4500 years ago in ancient
Mesopotamia. By the 15th
century, toxic chemicals such as
arsenic, mercury and led being
applied sulphate was extracted
from tobacco leaves for use an
insecticide. The 19th century saw
the introduction of two more
natural pesticides, pyrethrum,
which is derived from
chrysanthemums, rotemone which
is derived from the roots of
tropical vegetables.
In 1940s manufactures began to
produce large amounts of
synthetic pesticides. Some
sources consider the 1940s and
1950s to have been the start of
the Pesticideera.
In 1960s it was discovered that
DDT was preventing many fish
eating birds from reproducing,
which was a serious threat to
biodiversity.

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Organophosphorus
pesticides are the most
abundant used
PESTICIDES
pesticides
in todays
life. They generally
have less impact
ORGANOPHOSPHO
ORGANOCHLORINE
RUS
So at some places
organochlorine
e.g-DDT
e.g-zinc phosphide

pesticides are
also used. They have a very high impact. This
means that they will also have a very high impact
on humans and animals so at many places use of
organochlorine pesticides are banned.

India is the biggest

producer of pesticides in
Asia, spewing about
1,00,000 MT per annum!
That is not all. We are also
the 12th largest users of
pesticides in the world.
MAXIMUM RESIDUAL LIMIT
(MLR)
To determine whether the
concentrations of the pesticides
used exceed their maximum
residue limits (MRLs). The MRLs
are established by each country
and sometimes cause conflicts
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because different residue levels
are acceptable in one country but

Require
ment for
this
experim
ent

2.

3.

Mortar and
Pestle, Beaker,
Funnel, glass
rod, Filter Paper,
China Dish,
Water Bath,
Tripod Stand,
Fusion Tube,
Knife, Test Tube.

Samples of fruits
and vegetables,
alcohol, Sodium
metal, Ferric
chloride, ferrous
sulphate crystal,
Distilled water

EXPERIMENT
1
AIM: - To study the
presence of insecticides
and pesticides
(nitrogen containing) in
various fruits and
vegetables.
Procedure:- 1. Take different
kinds of fruit and vegetables and cut
them into small piece separately.
Transfer the cut piece of various fruits
and vegetables in mortar separately and
crush them.
Take different beaker of each kind of
fruits and vegetables and place the
crushed fruit and vegetable in these
beakers, and add 10ml of alcohol to
each or these. Stir well and filter collect
the filtrate in separate china dishes.
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4. Evaporate the alcohol by heating china dishes one by one over

water bath and let the residue dry in an oven.

5. Heat a small piece of dry sodium in a fusion tubes, till it melts.

Then add one of the above residues from china dish to the fusion tube
and heat till red hot. Drop the hot fusion tube in china dish containing
about 110ml of distilled water. Break the tube and boil the contents of
the china dish for about 5 minute to cool and filter solution. Collect
the filtrate.

6. To the filtrate add 1ml freshly prepared ferrous sulphate solution

and warm the contents. Then, add 2-3 drops of ferric chloride solution
and acidity with the dil. Hydrochloric acid if a blue or green
precipitate or colouration is obtained, it indicated the presence of
nitrogen containing insecticide.

7. Repeat the test of nitrogen for residue obtained from other fruits
and vegetable and record observation
This test is the most
effective test for finding
experiment that cannot be performed at home but
the presence of
can be performed easily in a chemistry lab with the
insecticides and
help of teachers so that they can guide you through
pesticides in various
the process.
fruits and vegetables. The
only problem with this

Observation:-

Seri Name of
Insecticides cause death of

The usage per unit

area (gms/Hectare) is
Test
600 forfor
India asPresenc
against 3000 gms/Ha Page 4 of 9
in developed nations.

al fruit and presence

e of
no. vegetabl
of
insectici
e
nitrogen
des
1
2
3
4

Tomato
Grapes
Carrot
Potato

+ve
+ve
-ve
+ve

Yes
Yes
No
Yes

Conclusion:-

Thus from the above experiment we conclude

that the fruits and vegetables that we consume especially grapes,
tomato and potato contain nitrogen containing insecticides and
pesticides.

Insectici
des

Pesticide
s

Herbicid
es

Effect on
human and
animal health
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Page 6 of 9

Aim:- To study the

presence of insecticides
and pesticides by using
chromatographic method.
Theory:-The most frequently used
detectors for pesticide residues analysis
include ECD, NPD, FPD, and MSD.
However, it is well known that ECD has
been the most used detector in pesticide
residues analysis due to its high sensitivity,
in particular to halogenated pesticides
although all kinds of electron-attracting
functional groups such as nitro groups and
aromatic structures also give a response on
this detector.

Procedure:-

At first the fruit juice

is taken out by the help of any juicer or any
other appliances and then this juice is put in
a dish with a special chromatography paper
dipped in it. This chromatography paper is
specially designed for this purpose. After
some time it is observed that the nitrogen
compounds (e.g.nitro groups) and also
halogen compounds(e.g.chlorine) of
pesticides have risen up to a certain level on
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Advantage
s

Disadvanta
ges

Showing the
advantages and
disadvantages of
using insecticides
and pesticides.
Thus here we can see
that the traditional
insecticides and
pesticides have more
disadvantages rather
than advantages.

ALTERNATIVES TO PEST
CONTROL
Traditional insecticides such as pyrithrium or non-persistent
chemicals such as carbonate sevin are now very widely used and
totally new types of pest control are useful in particular cases.
For example the autodial (sub destroying) technique makes use
of sterilized nales population. Large scale rearing, radiation
sterilizing and release programme are now major effects of the
US Department of agriculture and are highly effective in
restricted situations. Control of insects by synthetic growth
hormones is also effective in limited situations but is better
described as on active area of biological research than a
general alternative to pesticide use. The technique use extracts
of juvenile hormone or their synthesized mimics.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.google.co.in/

http://projects.icbse.com/chemistry-306

http://www.wikipedia.org/insecticides
http://www.wikipidea.org/pesticides
http://www.ehow.com/how_7954977_detectpresence-insecticides-fruitsvegetables.html
NCERT Chemistry -XII
Modern's ABC of practical chemistry

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