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Matrix solid-phase dispersion coupled with gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for simultaneous determination of 13 organophosphate esters in vegetables

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Abstract

In this study, matrix solid-phase dispersion coupled with gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) was developed for the analysis of 23 organophosphate esters (OPEs) in vegetables. Under the optimal conditions, 0.5 g vegetables was dispersed with use of 2 g Florisil, 2 g anhydrous sodium sulfate, and 0.1 g graphitized carbon black, and it was transferred to an empty solid-phase extraction cartridge. The analytes were eluted with 15 mL n-hexane/acetone (1:1, v/v) and analyzed by GC–MS/MS. The method detection limits and quantitation limits ranged from 0.05 to 0.33 ng/g and from 0.16 to 1.10 ng/g, respectively. The recoveries ranged from 65.1% to 109.1%, and the relative standard deviations were less than 15%. The analysis of eight kinds of vegetables shows that the vegetables had been contaminated by OPEs; the concentrations of the sum of the OPEs ranged from 5.89 to 26.8 ng/g. The proposed method is applicable to analyze OPEs in vegetables.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2018M630304), the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (no. 20170520384), and the National Program on Key Basic Research Project of China (973 Program) (no. 2014CB441100). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Eco-Remediation of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, Liaoning, China

    Qing Luo, Shiyu Wang, Yue Shan, Li-na Sun & Hui Wang

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  1. Qing Luo
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  2. Shiyu Wang
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Correspondence to Qing Luo.

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Luo, Q., Wang, S., Shan, Y. et al. Matrix solid-phase dispersion coupled with gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for simultaneous determination of 13 organophosphate esters in vegetables. Anal Bioanal Chem 410, 7077–7084 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1308-z

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