Applications of matrix solid-phase dispersion in food analysis

Efficiency of TiO2 particle-coated filter using different binders in carbendazim degradation from Chinese chives

Dip-coating TiO2 (Degussa P25) onto the glass-fiber pre-filter using different binders (PEG1000, 2000, 4000, 6000, and Duramax B1000) for carbendazim degradation in Chinese chives was studied. To investigate the effects of binder types, TiO2 concentration was fixed at 1 % w/v, and amounts of binders were varied in a range of 0.3 to 1 wt% based on the TiO2 content. Then, effects of TiO2 and binder concentrations were further studied on the most effective binder type (PEG6000). It was revealed that 2 wt% of PEG6000 yielded the highest carbendazim degradation efficiency. The efficiency increased with the increased concentration of TiO2. At the best condition of coating, i.e., 1-1.5 % w/v of TiO2 and 2 wt% of PEG6000, more than 90% degradation efficiency was obtained although the initial carbendazim concentration in the chives was as high as 168.4 mg/kg.

Multi-residue method to determine selected personal care products from five classes in fish based on miniaturized matrix solid-phase dispersion and solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A method featuring matrix solid-phase dispersion combined with solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed to determine parabens, musks, antimicrobials, UV filters, and an insect repellent in fish. Optimization and validation of the method was carried out on tilapia and salmon samples. Acceptable linearity (R² > 0.97), precision (relative standard deviations < 13 %) and accuracy (recovery > 80 %) at two concentration levels for all analytes were obtained using both matrices. The limits of detection ranged from 0.01 to 1.01 μg g^-1 (wet weight) for all analytes except for methyl paraben. The SPME Arrow format was applied to increase the sensitivity of the method, and yielded detection limits more than ten times lower than those achieved with traditional SPME. The miniaturized method can be applied to various fish species, regardless of their lipid content, and represents a useful tool for quality control and food safety purposes.

A Comprehensive Review of Pesticide Residues in Peppers

Pesticides are chemicals that are used to control pests such as insects, fungi, and weeds. Pesticide residues can remain on crops after application. Peppers are popular and versatile foods that are valued for their flavor, nutrition, and medicinal properties. The consumption of raw or fresh peppers (bell and chili) can have important health benefits due to their high levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Therefore, it is crucial to consider factors such as pesticide use and preparation methods to fully realize these benefits. Ensuring that the levels of pesticide residues in peppers are not harmful to human health requires rigorous and continuous monitoring. Several analytical methods, such as gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), mass spectrometry (MS), infrared spectroscopy (IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), can detect and quantify pesticide residues in peppers. The choice of analytical method depends on the specific pesticide, that is being tested for and the type of sample being analyzed. The sample preparation method usually involves several processes. This includes extraction, which is used to separate the pesticides from the pepper matrix, and cleanup, which removes any interfering substances that could affect the accuracy of the analysis. Regulatory agencies or food safety organizations typically monitor pesticide residues in peppers by stipulating maximum residue limits (MRLs). Herein, we discuss various sample preparation, cleanup, and analytical techniques, as well as the dissipation patterns and application of monitoring strategies for analyzing pesticides in peppers to help safeguard against potential human health risks. From the authors' perspective, several challenges and limitations exist in the analytical approach to monitoring pesticide residues in peppers. These include the complexity of the matrix, the limited sensitivity of some analytical methods, cost and time, a lack of standard methods, and limited sample size. Furthermore, developing new analytical methods, using machine learning and artificial intelligence, promoting sustainable and organic growing practices, improving sample preparation methods, and increasing standardization could assist efficiently in analyzing pesticide residues in peppers.

Multiclass Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables from Brazil: A Systematic Review of Sample Preparation Until Post-Harvest

Brazil annually produces around 43 million tons of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, large amounts of pesticides are needed to grow these foods. The use of unauthorized or indiscriminate pesticides can lead to the adherence of residues of these compounds to the product in a concentration above the maximum residue limit (MRL). Pesticide residues (PRs) monitoring is a continuous challenge due to several factors influencing the detection of these compounds in the food matrix. Currently, several adaptations to conventional techniques have been developed to minimize these problems. This systematic review presents the main information obtained from 52 research articles, taken from five databases, on changes and advances in Brazil in sample preparation methods for determining PRs in fruits and vegetables in the last nine years. We cover the preexisting ones and some others that might be suitable alternatives approaches. In addition, we present a brief discussion on the monitoring of PRs in different Brazilian regions, and we found that residues belonging to the organophosphate and pyrethroid classes were detected more frequently. Approximately 67% of the residues detected are of irregular use in 28 types of fruits and vegetables commonly consumed and exported by Brazil.

Review of sample preparation methods for chromatographic analysis of neonicotinoids in agricultural and environmental matrices: From classical to state-of-the-art methods

This review specifically examines the development of sample preparation methods for residue analyses of neonicotinoid insecticides in agricultural and environmental matrices. Pesticide residue analysis is fundamentally important to ensure the safety of foods and processed foods of plant and animal origin, and to preserve the environment, particularly soil and water. For the development of pesticide residue analysis, the sample preparation process is an important key to maximizing the analytical performance of highly sensitive and accurate chromatographic instruments and to acquiring reliable analytical results. This review outlines sample preparation methods that have been proposed to date for extraction of neonicotinoids that might remain in a complicated sample matrix in quantitatively trace amounts, and for cleaning up, to the greatest extent possible, the interfering components that coexist in the sample extract.

Enantioselective degradation of chiral fungicides triticonazole and prothioconazole in soils and their enantioselective accumulation in earthworms Eisenia fetida

Triticonazole and prothioconazole are widely used systemic agricultural triazole fungicides both with a chiral center. In this work, the enantioselective degradation of triticonazole and prothioconazole in three types of soils were investigated under native conditions using reversed phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with a Chiralcel OD-RH column. The results indicated that the enantioselective degradation was observed with S-triticonazole and R-prothioconazole preferentially degraded and the degradation rate was fast with a half-life within 6 days. It was also found that the presence of earthworms can accelerate the degradation and further enhance degradation enantioselectivity of triticonazole and prothioconazole in soils. Moreover, the enantioselective of triticonazole and prothioconazole in earthworms were studied. The results showed that the bioaccumulation was enantioselective with R-triticonazole and S-prothioconazole preferentially accumulated, which was similar to the soil. Our findings suggest that the enantioselective toxicity and potential effects of the metabolites should be considered for more accurate assessment of ecological risks of triticonazole and prothioconazole to target and non-target species.

Optimization and validation of the kinetic spectrophotometric method for quantitative determination of the pesticide atrazine and its application in infant formulae and cereal-based baby food

BACKGROUND

Pesticides are potentially toxic to humans and can produce both acute and chronic health effects, depending on the quantity and the ways in which a person is exposed. Exposure to pesticides can cause serious health problems. Infants and young children are particularly sensitive to these contaminants because their brains and organ systems are not fully developed. For this reason, it is important to determine the quantities of pesticides in baby food.

RESULTS

The aim of this study was to develop a kinetic-spectrophotometric method for atrazine determination and to apply it to determine pesticide in baby-food samples, using solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by the kinetic-spectrophotometric method and the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. This method is based on the inhibition effect of atrazine (the oxidation of sulfanilic acid (SA) by hydrogen peroxide in the alkaline medium in the presence of the Co²⁺ ion). Under the experimental conditions used, atrazine showed a linear dynamic range of 0.5 to 5.0 μg mL^-1 , and from 5.0 to 70.00 μg mL^-1 with relative standard deviations (RSD) from 1.91% to 9.41%. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification were 0.074 and 0.225 μg mL^-1 , respectively. The kinetic method was successfully applied to determine the atrazine concentration in spiked samples after SPE of samples. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to verify the results.

CONCLUSION

The proposed method is highly sensitive, simple, easy, requires cheap reagents, and leads to good recovery levels. It is linear, precise, and accurate. It can be used successfully for the routine analysis of atrazine in infant formulae and cereal-based food samples. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Dispersive Matrix Solid-Phase Extraction Method Coupled with High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Ultrasensitive Quantification of Endogenous Brassinosteroids in Minute Plants and Its Application for Geographical Distribution Study

An ultrasensitive analysis method for quantification of endogenous brassinosteroids in fresh minute plants was developed based on dispersive matrix solid-phase extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. During the dispersive matrix solid-phase extraction, plant samples were first ground with solid sorbent (dispersant) in one microcentrifuge tube and then centrifuged after adding extraction solvent and cleanup materials (another type of sorbent). Three protocols based on dispersive matrix solid-phase extraction were compared and discussed for plant samples with different matrix complexity. The choice of any protocol was a compromise of increasing purification efficiency and decreasing sample loss. Under optimized conditions, the limits of detection were 1.38-6.75 pg mL^-1 for five brassinosteroids in the oilseed rape samples. The intraday and interday precisions were in the range of 0.8%-9.8% and 4.6%-17.3%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to detection of endogenous brassinosteroids in milligram oilseed rape (2.0 mg) and submilligram Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings (0.5 mg). Finally, the geographical distribution of five endogenous brassinosteroids of Brassica napus L. oilseed rape in different provinces of origin in the Yangtze River basin was described.

A Review on the Recent Progress in Matrix Solid Phase Dispersion

Matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) has proven to be an efficient sample preparation method for solid, semi-solid, and viscous samples. Applications of MSPD have covered biological, food, and environmental samples, including both organic and inorganic analytes. This review presents an update on the development of MSPD in the period 2015~June 2018. In the first part of this review, we focus on the latest development in MSPD sorbent, including molecularly imprinted polymers, and carbon-based nanomaterials etc. The second part presents the miniaturization of MSPD, discussing the progress in both micro-MSPD and mini-MSPD. The on-line/in-line techniques for improving the automation and sample throughput are also discussed. The final part summarizes the success in the modification of original MSPD procedures.

Determination of carcinogenic herbicides in milk samples using green non-ionic silicone surfactant of cloud point extraction and spectrophotometry

A new cloud point methodology was successfully used for the extraction of carcinogenic pesticides in milk samples as a prior step to their determination by spectrophotometry. In this work, non-ionic silicone surfactant, also known as 3-(3-hydroxypropyl-heptatrimethylxyloxane), was chosen as a green extraction solvent because of its structure and properties. The effect of different parameters, such as the type of surfactant, concentration and volume of surfactant, pH, salt, temperature, incubation time and water content on the cloud point extraction of carcinogenic pesticides such as atrazine and propazine, was studied in detail and a set of optimum conditions was established. A good correlation coefficient (R² ) in the range of 0.991-0.997 for all calibration curves was obtained. The limit of detection was 1.06 µg l^-1 (atrazine) and 1.22 µg l^-1 (propazine), and the limit of quantitation was 3.54 µg l^-1 (atrazine) and 4.07 µg l^-1 (propazine). Satisfactory recoveries in the range of 81-108% were determined in milk samples at 5 and 1000 µg l^-1, respectively, with low relative standard deviation, n = 3 of 0.301-7.45% in milk matrices. The proposed method is very convenient, rapid, cost-effective and environmentally friendly for food analysis.

Analysis of Major Components of Bacitracin, Colistin and Virginiamycin in Feed Using Matrix Solid-phase Dispersion Extraction by Liquid Chromatography-electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A quantitative LC-MS/MS method has been developed for simultaneous determination of bacitracin A, bacitracin B, colistin A, colistin B and virginiamycin M1 in feed. This rapid simple and effective extraction method was based on matrix solid-phase dispersion. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed by LC-ESI-MS/MS. CCβ of polypeptide antibiotics upon the method ranged from 9.6 to 15.8 μg kg-1 and 19.4 to 27.5 μg kg-1, respectively. The limit of quantification of polypeptide antibiotics was 25 μg kg-1 in feed samples. The recoveries of polypeptide antibiotics spiked in feed samples at a concentration range of 25-100 μg kg-1 were found above 75.9-87.9% with relative standard deviations within days less than 15.7% and between days less than 20.6%. This rapid and reliable method can be used to efficiently separate, characterize and quantify the residues of polypeptide antibiotics in feed with advantages of simple pretreatment and environmental friendly.

Multiclass pesticide residue analysis in fish muscle and liver on one-step extraction-cleanup strategy coupled with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

The analysis of pesticide residues in fish samples is challenging due to the low concentrations and large number of analytes that need to be monitored and quantified in a complex matrix. This is the first report providing a novel one-step extraction-cleanup strategy for simultaneous analysis of over 340 pesticides in a fatty fish and liver matrix, coupled with liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The samples of fish muscle and liver were prepared according to the modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) procedure, wherein the extraction and cleanup protocol were integrated into one step. Among the tested cleanup dispersive solid phase extraction sorbents (C18, primary-secondary amine, Z-Sep), chitin yielded the best results. Spike-in experiments were carried out at three different spiking levels in fish and liver to determine the recovery, precision and limits of detection of the method as well as the matrix effect. The method's detection limits ranged from 0.05 to 1.2μgkg^-1, while recoveries of most pesticides were in the range of 70-120% with associated precision - relative standard deviations below 20%. A linear relationship was observed within the range of 0.005-1mgkg^-1, and the correlation coefficient was R²>0.997. Expanded measurement uncertainty was estimated to be between 7% and 52%, on average. Matrix effects were evaluated and were not significant for the vast majority of pesticides. The validated method was employed in the analysis of 54 real fish and liver samples in which 10 different pesticides with concentrations ranging from 0.005 to 0.047mgkg^-1 were detected.

Approach for Pesticide Residue Analysis for Metabolite Prothioconazole-desthio in Animal Origin Food

Food safety problems such as damage to immune, nervous, and endocrine systems leading to cancer and malformations have received increasing attention. To achieve the maximum residue limits, the most discussed method of high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) is widely used with a advantage of high precision and resolution. Prothioconazole is a broad-spectrum thiocarbamate fungicide. It can rapidly metabolize to prothioconazole-desthio in different matrixes. Rapid and effective methods for the determination of prothioconazole-desthio in five kinds of different animal food were developed. Samples were extracted with acetonitrile or acetonitrile/water and determined by HPLC-MS/MS. The limit of detection and limit of quantification values of prothioconazole-desthio were 0.015 and 0.05 mg/kg for porcine liver and kidney, 0.0015 and 0.005 mg/kg for pork, and 0.003 and 0.01 mg/kg for eggs, together with 0.0012 and 0.004 mg/kg for milk of the detected method, respectively. A good linear regression trend can be observed in a certain concentration range for all of the animal food. At fortified levels, recoveries were between 83.6 and 105%, with relative standard deviations of 1.5-10.3%. A sample survey of 150 samples with 30 samples for each kind of animal food across the country was conducted and found that there was no prothioconazole-desthio detected in all samples.

Development of Methods for Determination of Aflatoxins

Aflatoxins can cause damage to the health of humans and animals. Several institutions around the world have established regulations to limit the levels of aflatoxins in food, and numerous analytical methods have been extensively developed for aflatoxin determination. This review covers the currently used analytical methods for the determination of aflatoxins in different food matrices, which includes sampling and sample preparation, sample pretreatment methods including extraction methods and purification methods of aflatoxin extracts, separation and determination methods. Validation for analysis of aflatoxins and safety considerations and precautions when doing the experiments are also discussed.

Procedures of determining organic trace compounds in municipal sewage sludge-a review

Sewage sludge is the largest by-product generated during the wastewater treatment process. Since large amounts of sludge are being produced, different ways of disposal have been introduced. One tempting option is to use it as fertilizer in agricultural fields due to its high contents of inorganic nutrients. This, however, can be limited by the amount of trace contaminants in the sewage sludge, containing a variety of microbiological pollutants and pathogens but also inorganic and organic contaminants. The bioavailability and the effects of trace contaminants on the microorganisms of soil are still largely unknown as well as their mixture effects. Therefore, there is a need to analyze the sludge to test its suitability before further use. In this article, a variety of sampling, pretreatment, extraction, and analysis methods have been reviewed. Additionally, different organic trace compounds often found in the sewage sludge and their methods of analysis have been compiled. In addition to traditional Soxhlet extraction, the most common extraction methods of organic contaminants in sludge include ultrasonic extraction (USE), supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) followed by instrumental analysis based on gas or liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Selective removal of ATP degradation products from food matrices II: Rapid screening of hypoxanthine and inosine by molecularly imprinted matrix solid-phase dispersion for evaluation of fish freshness

A water compatible molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), synthesized using theophylline (TPH) as dummy-template and acrylamide (AM) as functional monomer, has been employed as supporting material in matrix solid-phase dispersion combined with ultra performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection (MSPD-UPLC-PDA) for selective determination of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) derivatives in fish samples. ATP degradation products are used as freshness index for assessment of fish quality. The solid sample was directly blended with MIP in MSPD procedure resulting in sample disruption and subsequent adsorption of the compounds on the MIP. By using n-hexane and ammonium hydroxide aqueous solution at pH 9 as the washing and elution solvent, respectively, satisfactory recoveries and clean chromatograms have been obtained. Good linearity for hypoxanthine (HYP) and inosine (INO) has been observed with correlation coefficients (R(2)) of 0.9987 and 0.9986, respectively. The recoveries of the two ATP derivatives at three different spiked levels ranged from 106.5% to 113.4% for HYP and from 103.1% to 111.2% for INO, with average relative standard deviations lower than 4.2% in both cases. This new method, which is rapid, simple and sensitive, can be used as an alternative tool to conventional tedious methods.

Simultaneous determination of nine trace organophosphorous pesticide residues in fruit samples using molecularly imprinted matrix solid-phase dispersion followed by gas chromatography

How to determine trace multipesticide residues in fruits is an important problem. This paper reports a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) that was prepared using 4-(dimethoxyphosphorothioylamino)butanoic acid as the template, acrylamide as the functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker. The novel imprinted polymer was characterized by static and kinetic adsorption experiments, and it exhibited good recognition ability and fast adsorption-desorption dynamicd toward trichlorfon, malathion, acephate, methamidophos, omethoate, dimethoate, phosphamidon, monocrotophos, and methyl parathion. Using this imprinted polymer as sorbent, matrix solid-phase dispersion coupled to gas chromatography for simultaneous determination of nine trace organophosphorus pesticide residues was first presented. Under the optimized conditions, the LOD (S/N = 3) of this method for the nine organophosphorus was 0.3-1.6 μg kg(-1); the RSD for three replicate extractions ranged from 1.2 to 4.8%. The apple and pear samples spiked with nine organophosphate pesticides at levels of 20 and 100 μg kg(-1) were determined according to this method with good recoveries ranging from 81 to 105%. Moreover, this developed method was successfully applied to the quantitative detection of the nine organophosphorus pesticide residues in orange samples.

Antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory and wound healing features in animal models treated with a semisolid herbal medicine based on Aleurites moluccana L. Willd. Euforbiaceae standardized leaf extract: semisolid herbal

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Aleurites moluccana L. (Willd) Euforbiaceae is a native tree of Indonesia and India that has become acclimatized and well-adapted to the South and Southwest of Brazil. It is commonly used in traditional medicine to treat pain, fever, inflammation, asthma, hepatitis, headache, gastric ulcer, cuts, skin sores and other ailments. The oral antinociceptive effects of standardized 70:30 (v/v) ethanol:water spray dried extract of A. moluccana leaf, as well as its flavonoids 2"-O-rhamnosylswertisin (I) and swertisin (II), have previously been reported.

AIM

The aim of this study was to develop a stable and effective semisolid herbal medicine for topical use in the treatment of pain, inflammation and wound healing, containing 0.5 and 1.0% of standardized dried extract of A. moluccana.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The chemical markers I and II were assayed by HPLC-UV analysis after extraction by matrix solid dispersion phase (MSDP) followed analytical validation as ICH Guidelines. The semisolid preparations of Hostacerin CG(®) vehicle containing 0.5 and 1.0% of dried extract of A. moluccana were submitted to stability studies (180 day of accelerated and long-term studies). The phytomedicine semisolid was analysed in croton oil-induced ear oedema model in mice, in the healing process, using the excisional wound model in rats, and to prevent mechanical sensitization following plantar incision in rats in the postoperative model of pain.

RESULTS

The MSDP method showed average recovery of 101.6 and 105.7% for I and II, respectively, with good precision (RSD<2.0%) and selectivity, without interference of the excipients. The formulations were approved in the stability studies, maintaining conformity after 180 day of accelerated and long-term studies, with variation<10% in the analytical parameters. The phytomedicine reduced the ear oedema in 37.6±5.7% and 64.8±6.2%, for 0.5 and 1.0% of dried extract, respectively. The formulation also accelerated the healing process by up to 50.8±4.1% and 46.0±4.0% at 0.5 and 1.0% of extract, respectively, and both amounts were capable of preventing the development of mechanical sensitization following plantar incision in rats.

CONCLUSIONS

The MSDP followed by HPLC-UV analytical method was appropriate for the quality control of the topical phytomedicine based on A. moluccana. The formulation developed at 0.5 and 1.0% of A. moluccana dried extract proved to be effective as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory and wound healing in the pre-clinical studies, which is in agreement with the ethnopharmacological data.

Miniaturization of Analytical Methods

This chapter highlights miniaturization in sample preparation as a valuable alternative for green analytical chemistry. The current state of the art is discussed on the basis of examples selected from representative application areas, including biomedical, environmental and food analysis, and involving conventional instrumental techniques for final determination of the target compounds. The emphasis is on those techniques and approaches that have already demonstrated their practicality by the analysis of real-life samples, and in particular on those dealing with the accurate determination of minor organic components. The potential of recent developments in this field for sample treatment simplification and complete hyphenation of analytical processes are discussed and the most pressing remaining limitations evaluated.