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Multiclass Method for the Determination of Pesticide Residues in Oat Using Modified QuEChERS with Alternative Sorbent and Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

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Abstract

Many pesticides are used for pest control during oat production and storage, making necessary to employ multiclass methods for pesticide residue determination. In this work, an efficient QuEChERS method was established for multiresidue determination of 60 pesticides in oats by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Different sorbents, such as chitosan, Forisil®, C18, PSA, Supel QuE Z-Sep+, and EMR-Lipid were evaluated for cleanup by dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE). The original QuEChERS method had the best performance and the biosorbent chitosan presented similar results to the other conventional sorbents evaluated and being an efficient and low-cost biodegradable material was chosen for the cleanup step. The method presented adequate accuracy and precision using blank samples spiked between 5 and 100 μg kg−1, with recovery from 70 to 120% and RSD < 20% for all 60 pesticides and limits of quantification of 5 μg kg−1 for almost all studied pesticides, with exception of triflumizole for which was 10 μg kg−1. The method was successfully applied in real samples proven to be a good option for routine analysis. Oat samples presented residues of azoxystrobin, metalaxyl, and thiamethoxam.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support and fellowships granted by the Brazilian agencies CNPq, CAPES, and FAPERGS.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Pesticide Residue Analysis (LARP), Chemistry Department, Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, RS, 97105-900, Brazil

    Estéfani M. C. de Matos, Lucila C. Ribeiro, Osmar D. Prestes & Renato Zanella

  2. Regional University of Northwestern Rio Grande do Sul State, Ijuí, RS, 98700-000, Brazil

    Estéfani M. C. de Matos & José A. G. da Silva

  3. School of Chemistry and Food, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Rio Grande, RS, Brazil

    Bruna S. de Farias & Luiz A. de A. Pinto

Authors
  1. Estéfani M. C. de Matos
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  2. Lucila C. Ribeiro
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  3. Osmar D. Prestes
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  4. José A. G. da Silva
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  5. Bruna S. de Farias
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  6. Luiz A. de A. Pinto
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  7. Renato Zanella
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Correspondence to Renato Zanella.

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Conflict of Interest

Estéfani M. C. de Matos declares that she has no conflict of interest. Fabiane M. Stringhini declares that she has no conflict of interest. Lucila C. Ribeiro declares that she has no conflict of interest. Osmar D. Prestes declares that he has no conflict of interest. José A. G. da Silva declares that he has no conflict of interest. Bruna S. de Farias declares that she has no conflict of interest. Luiz A. de A. Pinto declares that he has no conflict of interest. Renato Zanella declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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de Matos, E.M.C., Ribeiro, L.C., Prestes, O.D. et al. Multiclass Method for the Determination of Pesticide Residues in Oat Using Modified QuEChERS with Alternative Sorbent and Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry. Food Anal. Methods 12, 2835–2844 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-019-01641-1

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