Development of an improved liquid phase microextraction technique and its application in the analysis of flumetsulam and its two analogous herbicides in soil

Fast and Low-Cost Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Method for On-Site Detection of Flumetsulam in Wheat

The pesticide residues in agri-foods are threatening people’s health. This study aims to establish a fast and low-cost surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) method for the on-site detection of flumetsulam in wheat. The two-step modified concentrated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) acted as the SERS substrate with the aid of NaCl and MgSO₄. NaCl is served as the activator to modify AuNPs, while MgSO₄ is served as the aggregating agent to form high-density hot spots. The activation and aggregation are two essential collaborative procedures to generate remarkable SERS enhancement and achieve the trace-level detection of flumetsulam. This method exhibits good enhancement effect with an enhancement factor of 10⁶ and wide linear range (5–1000 μg/L). With simple pretreatment, the flumetsulam residue in real wheat samples can be successfully detected with the limit of detection (LOD) down to 0.01 μg/g, which is below the maximum residue limit of flumetsulam in wheat (0.05 μg/g) set in China. The recovery of flumetsulam residue in wheat ranges from 88.3% to 95.6%. These results demonstrate that the proposed SERS method is a powerful technique for the detection of flumetsulam in wheat, which implies the great application potential in the rapid detection of other pesticide residues in various agri-foods.

Development of Surface Molecularly Imprinted Polymers as Dispersive Solid Phase Extraction Coupled with HPLC Method for the Removal and Detection of Griseofulvin in Surface Water

Griseofulvin (GSF) is clinically employed to treat fungal infections in humans and animals. GSF was detected in surface waters as a pharmaceutical pollutant. GSF detection as an anthropogenic pollutant is considered as a possible source of drug resistance and risk factor in ecosystem. To address this concern, a new extraction and enrichment method was developed. GSF-surface molecularly imprinted polymers (GSF-SMIPs) were prepared and applied as solid phase extraction (SPE) sorbent. A dispersive solid phase extraction (DSPE) method was designed and combined with HPLC for the analysis of GSF in surface water samples. The performance of GSF-SMIPs was assessed for its potential to remove GSF from water samples. The factors affecting the removal efficiency such as sample pH and ionic strength were investigated and optimized. The DSPE conditions such as the amount of GSF-SMIPs, the extraction time, the type and volume of desorption solvents were also optimized. The established method is linear over the range of 0.1–100 µg/mL. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.01 and 0.03 µg/mL respectively. Good recoveries (91.6–98.8%) were achieved after DSPE. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations were 0.8 and 4.3% respectively. The SMIPs demonstrated good removal efficiency (91.6%) as compared to powder activated carbon (67.7%). Moreover, the SMIPs can be reused 10 times for water samples. This is an additional advantage over single-use activated carbon and other commercial sorbents. This study provides a specific and sensitive method for the selective extraction and detection of GSF in surface water samples.

Dispersive solid-phase microextraction with graphene oxide based molecularly imprinted polymers for determining bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in environmental water

A novel graphene oxide-molecularly imprinted polymers (GO-MIPs) was prepared and applied for selective extraction and preconcentration of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in environmental water samples by using the dispersive solid-phase microextraction (DSPME) method. The GO-MIPs was synthesized via precipitation polymerization using GO, DEHP, methacrylic acid, and ethylene dimethacrylate as supporting materials, template molecules, functional monomer, and cross-linker, respectively. The prepared GO-MIPs were characterized by scanning electron microscope and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The GO-MIPs-DSPME conditions including type and volume of elution solvents, adsorbents amount, initial concentration of DEHP, pH and ionic strength of water samples were investigated. Under optimized conditions, the DEHP was selectively and effectively extracted in real water samples and enrichment factors of over 100-fold were achieved. Good linearity was obtained with correlation coefficients (R²) over 0.999 and the detection limit (S/N=3) was 0.92ngmL^-1. The average recoveries of the spiked samples at three concentration levels of DEHP ranged from 82% to 92% with the relative standard deviations less than 6.7%. The results indicated that the proposed GO-MIPs-DSPME extraction protocol combined with HPLC-UV determination could be applied for selective and sensitive analysis of trace DEHP phthalate in environmental water samples.

Dissipation kinetics and residues of triazolopyrimidine herbicides flumetsulam and florasulam in corn ecosystem

The dynamic and residues of florasulam and flumetsulam in corn field ecosystem were investigated using quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) procedure with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The limits of quantification (LOQs) of the proposed method ranged from 0.005 to 0.01 mg/kg. Mean recoveries and relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the two compounds in all samples at three spiking levels ranged 94-110 % and 2.0-9.2 %, respectively. Florasulam and flumetsulam degradation followed first-order kinetics with half-lives 1.7-2.9 and 3.3-8.7 days in soil and 1.3-1.8 and 0.9-1.7 days in plant, respectively. The residues in all the samples were found to be less than the LOQs at preharvest intervals of 53 and 78 days. The results suggest that the combined use of florasulam and flumetsulam on corn is considered to be safe under the recommended conditions and can be utilized for establishing the maximum residue limit (MRL) of florasulam in corn in China.

Dissipation and residues of flumetsulam in wheat and soil

A residue analytical method for the determination of flumetsulam in wheat and soil was developed using gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). The limit of detection of the analytical method was 0.001 ng, and the limit of quantification was 0.005, 0.01 mg/kg for soil and wheat grain, respectively. The mean recoveries from soil and wheat ranged from 83.85 % to 107.2 % with average relative standard deviation ranging from 1.87 % to 8.09 %. The method was successfully applied to determine the residual level and dissipation rate of flumetsulam in the soil and wheat. The half-life in soil was 23.1 days with a dissipation rate of 69 % over 35 days. At harvest time, the residue levels of flumetsulam in wheat grain and soil from high dosage plot were 0.031 and 0.045 mg/kg, respectively. The flumetsulam residues could not be detected from low dosage plot. Direct confirmation of the analyte in real samples was achieved by GC-ECD.