Simultaneous detection of zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate and zinc ethylenebisdithiocarbamate in cabbage leaves by capillary electrophoresis with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Deep eutectic solvent-based adhesive tape extraction combined with enzyme inhibition assay for the determination and distinction of dithiocarbamate pesticides in food samples

A simple, green extraction method of dithiocarbamate (DTC) pesticides in food samples was developed using adhesive tapes and a green deep eutectic solvent (DES). A rapid and convenient determination and distinction method of DTC pesticides was established using tyrosinase inhibition assay. First, DTC pesticides were extracted by pasting and peeling off the adhesive tape, then eluted by the DES synthesized from xylitol and ethylene glycol. Second, determination of DTC pesticides was conducted by inhibiting the activity of tyrosinase which can catalyze the oxidation of catechol. Less colored products were generated in the reaction system (tyrosinase, catechol, and 4-aminoantipyrine), leading to weak absorbance. In addition, different DTC pesticides (ziram, propineb, zineb, mancozeb, thiram, metiram, and ferbam) were successfully distinguished by sensor arrays (tyrosinase, phenolic compounds, and 4-aminoantipyrine) through principal component analysis. The limit of detection was found to be 0.2 μg kg^-1, and the limit of quantification was 0.6 μg kg^-1. The recoveries ranging from 89.4% to 103.8% were obtained in vegetable, fruit, and cereal, with a relative standard deviation of less than 4.2%. The method is simple, rapid, and convenient and shows good application prospects in the determination of pesticides in a variety of food samples.

Multicolor visual screening of total dithiocarbamate pesticides in foods based on sulfydryl-mediated growth of gold nanobipyramids

Dithiocarbamates (DTCs) pesticides were extensively used as fungicides in a variety of crops during their growth, storage and shipment. The DTCs residue in foods will seriously harm human health. In this study, a novel multicolor colorimetric sensor was developed for visual screening of total DTCs (total of ziram, thiram and zineb) based on sulfhydryl-mediated growth of gold nanobipyramids (AuNBPs). We demonstrated that DTCs can absorb on AuNBPs seed's surface via the formation of Au-S bonds and thus impede the 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ)-promoted AuNBPs growth, which generates DTCs concentration-corresponding color changes. The developed sensor has vivid color changes, short analysis time, higher sensitivity and excellent specificity. It can be used to detect as low as 50 nM of total DTCs by bare eye observation and 17-18 nM of total DTCs by UV-visible spectrometry. By using the multicolor sensor, we have successfully screened total DTCs in apple and black tea by bare eye observation, and detected total DTCs in apple and black tea by UV-visible spectrometry with a recovery of 90%-104% and a relative standard deviation (RSD, n = 5) < 5%. The results obtained with our method consisted well with those obtained with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), verifying that our method had good accuracy and reliability. Especially, the visual detection limit of our method is much lower than the maximum residue limit of total DTCs in vegetable and fruits. All above features make our sensor a promising method for rapid on-site screening of total DTCs in vegetable and fruits by only bare eye observation.

Rapid detection of ziram residues in apple and pear fruits by SERS based on octanethiol functionalized bimetallic core-shell nanoparticles

Existing approaches for the screening of unsafe materials in food matrices are time-consuming, tiresome and destructive in nature. Therefore, in the current study, a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method based on octanethiol-functionalized core-shell nanoparticles (Oct/Au@AgNPs) was established for rapid detection of ziram in apple and pear fruits. The morphology of substrate was evaluated using high-resolution TEM images and superimposed HAADF-STEM-EDS elemental mapping images, which confirmed that Au@AgNPs having gold (Au) core size of 28 nm in diameter and silver (Ag) shell of 5.5 nm in thickness were successfully grafted with octanethiol. The SERS method with the sensitive nanoparticles could detect ziram of up to 0.015 and 0.016 ppm in apple and pear with high coefficients of determination (R²) of 0.9987 and 0.9993, respectively. Furthermore, satisfactory recoveries (80-106%) were also accomplished for the fungicide in real samples. This work demonstrated that the functionalized silver-coated gold nanoparticles were easy to prepare and could be used as sensitive SERS platforms for monitoring of other agrochemicals in foods.

Recent advances in capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry: Instrumentation, methodology and applications

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) offers fast and high-resolution separation of charged analytes from small injection volumes. Coupled to mass spectrometry (MS), it represents a powerful analytical technique providing (exact) mass information and enables molecular characterization based on fragmentation. Although hyphenation of CE and MS is not straightforward, much emphasis has been placed on enabling efficient ionization and user-friendly coupling. Though several interfaces are now commercially available, research on more efficient and robust interfacing with nano-electrospray ionization (ESI), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP) continues with considerable results. At the same time, CE-MS has been used in many fields, predominantly for the analysis of proteins, peptides and metabolites. This review belongs to a series of regularly published articles, summarizing 248 articles covering the time between June 2016 and May 2018. Latest developments on hyphenation of CE with MS as well as instrumental developments such as two-dimensional separation systems with MS detection are mentioned. Furthermore, applications of various CE-modes including capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE), capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) and capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) coupled to MS in biological, pharmaceutical and environmental research are summarized.

Two-dimensional capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-CE-MS): coupling MS-interfering capillary electromigration methods with mass spectrometry

Electromigration separation techniques often demand certain compounds in the electrolyte to achieve the required selectivity and efficiency. These compounds, including the electrolyte itself, ampholytes, polymeric compounds for sieving, complexing agents, tensides, etc. are often non-volatile. Thus, interference with the electrospray ionization process is a common issue, impeding direct coupling of such electrolyte systems to mass spectrometry. Still, several options exist to obtain mass spectra after separation, including offline fractionation, alternative ionization, dilution, or the change to volatile constituents. In the first part of this article, these methods are discussed. However, all of these options are a compromise of separation performance and sensitivity of mass spectrometric detection. Two-dimensional capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-CE-MS) systems represent a promising alternative to the aforementioned challenges, as they allow the use of existing methods with best separation performance in combination with sensitive mass characterization. In this context, the second part of this article is dedicated to the advantages, limitations, and applications of this approach. Finally, an outlook towards future developments is given.