Abstract
To monitor possible contamination of edible vegetables by common pesticides, an analytical method using gas chromatography combined with ion trap spectrometry (GC-IT/MS) was developed to measure simultaneously up to 39 pesticide residues, belonging to organophosphors, organochlorines, pyrethroids or carbamates classes, left on four kinds of popular vegetables. The procedure entails addition of acetone, dichloromethane, and sodium chloride to a small amount of vegetable, then the mixture was shaken intensively and centrifuged for phase separation. An aliquot of the organic layer was cleanup using solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges filled with graphitized carbon black (GCB) in combination with acidic aluminum oxide. Gas chromatography with ion trap mass spectrometer was then used for qualitative and quantitative determination of the pesticides. The GCB combination with acidic aluminum oxide was found more suitable than florisil, aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide for sample cleanup with recoveries above 70% for most pesticides in removing the majority of co-extracted matrices. Variation coefficients of the repeatability typically smaller than 20% have been achieved for a wide range of the investigated pesticides. A set of critical instrument parameters for the GC-IT/MS Varian system in the MS mode was established. Based on optimization work conducted in this study, the 39 pesticides were separated successively with the limits of detection between 0.02 and 0.1 mg/kg.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albero B, Sánchez-Brunete C, Tadeo JL (2004) Analysis of pesticides in honey by solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. J Agric Food Chem 52:5828–5835. doi:10.1021/jf049470t
Albero B, Sánchez-Brunete C, Tadeo JL (2005) Multiresidue determination of pesticides in juice by solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Talanta 66:917–924. doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2004.12.046
Fenoll J, Hellín P, Martínez CM, Miguel M, Flores P (2007) Multiresidue method for analysis of pesticides in pepper and tomato by gas chromatography with nitrogen–phosphorus detection. Food Chem 105:711–719. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2006.12.060
Fillion J, Hindle R, Ladroix M, Swlwyn J (1995) Multiresidue determination of pesticides in fruit and vegetables by gas chromatography-mass-selective detection and liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. J AOAC Int 78:1252–1266
Fillion J, Sauvé F, Selwyn J (2000) Multiresidue method for the determination of residues of 251 pesticides in fruits and vegetables by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. J AOAC Int 83:698–713
Lee SM, Papathakis ML, Feng HMC, Hunter GF, Carr JE (1991) Multipesticide residue method for fruits and vegetables: California Department of Food and Agriculture. Fresenius’ J Anal Chem 339:376–383. doi:10.1007/BF00322352
Liao W, Joe T, Cusick WG (1991) Multiresidue screening method for fresh fruits and vegetables with gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric detection. J AOAC Int 74:554–565
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 20777078).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tao, CJ., Hu, JY., Li, JZ. et al. Multi-Residue Determination of Pesticides in Vegetables by Gas Chromatography/Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 82, 111–115 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-008-9528-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-008-9528-0