Multi-residue method for the determination of 450 pesticide residues in honey, fruit juice and wine by double-cartridge solid-phase extraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A multi-residue method was developed for the determination of 450 pesticide residues in honey, fruit juice and wine using double-cartridge solid-phase extraction (SPE), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). The method development was based on an appraisal of the characteristics of GC-MS and LC-MS-MS for 654 pesticides as well as the efficiency of extraction and purification from honey, fruit juice and wine. Samples were first diluted with water plus acetone, then extracted with portions of dichloromethane. The extracts were concentrated and cleaned up with graphitized carbon black and aminopropyl cartridges stacked in tandem. Pesticides were eluted with acetonitrile + toluene, and the eluates were concentrated. For 383 pesticides, the eluate was extracted with hexane twice and internal standard solution was added prior to GC-MS determination. For 67 pesticides, extraction was with methanol prior to LC-MS-MS determination. The limit of detection for the method was between 1.0 and 300 ng g(-1) depending on each pesticide analyte. At the three fortification levels of 2.0-3000 ng g(-1), the average recovery rates were between 59 and 123%, among which 413 pesticides (92% of the 450) had recovery rates of 70-120% and 35 pesticides (8% of the 450) had recovery rates of 59-70%. There were 437 pesticides (97% of the 450) with a relative standard deviation below 25%; there were 13 varieties (3% of the 450) between 25.0 and 30.4%.

Determination of diphenamide, napropamide and metolachlor in tobacco by gel permeation chromatographic clean-up and high performance liquid chromatography

Diphenamide, napropamide and metolachlor (FIG. 1) are selective, pre-emergence arylamide herbicides used to control the growth of annual grasses and broadleaf weeds in a variety of fields, e.g. fruit trees, nuts, corns, green crops, etc. They possess high activity and moderate toxicity. For food and environment safety, the detailed investigations on their residues and metabolism are very important. Diphenamide, napropamide and metolachlor in the pesticide products, serum, urine, soil, environmental water, fruits and wine have been widely analyzed by ELISA, fluorescence, phosphorescence, capillary electrophoresis, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography(GC) and GC mass spectrometry (GC-MS). However, to our knowledge, simultaneous residue analysis of diphenamide, napropamide and metolachlor in tobacco samples has not been extensively documented. Tobacco is greatly consumed by smokers throughout the world. The pesticide residue in tobaccos might be potentially harmful to smokers' health. With this in mind the residue determination and control of diphenamide, napropamide and metolachlor in the tobacco leaves are very important for tobacco products and consumers. For these three herbicides, the tolerable maximum residue limits (MRLs) have been limited ranging from 0.05 (for tobacco products) to 5 mg/kg (for tobacco leaves) in different European countries. For the complex tobacco samples, the GC and HPLC with UV detection suffer from matrix interference making quantification and identification of these herbicides difficult. In such cases the removal of the matrix effects and identification of the target compounds are of great importance. The present work reports the extraction and clean up procedures, as well as, the chromatographic conditions developed for the simultaneous determination of diphenamide, napropamide and metolachlor residues in the fluecured tobacco leaves, from the different sources using HPLC-UV method.