Novel approach to fast determination of 64 pesticides using of ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)

Tomas Kovalczuk (1) , Ondrej Lacina (1) , Martin Jech (1) , Jan Poustka (1) , Jana Hajslova (1)

1 Department of Food Chemistry and Analysis

Rapid, high throughput method employing ultra-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated with tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) has been developed and optimized for simultaneous quantification and confirmation of 64 pesticide residues and their toxic metabolites in fruit extracts prepared by buffered QuEChERS procedure. Total time required for UPLC-MS/MS analysis was 8 min plus 2 min for re-equilibration to initial UPLC conditions. Performance characteristics were determined for apple extracts spiked at 10 µg kg-1. Repeatability of measurements expressed as relative standard deviations was in the range 1.5-13% at this level for most analytes. Thanks to very low limits of quantitation (< 10 µg kg–1 for majority of pesticides), optimized method allows reliable control of not only common MRLs set in EU regulation for various pesticides/fruit combinations but also uniform MRL 10 µg kg–1 endorsed for baby food.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Tomas Kovalczuk, Ondrej Lacina, Martin Jech, Jan Poustka, Jana Hajslova. Novel approach to fast determination of 64 pesticides using of ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Food Additives and Contaminants, 2008, 25 (04), pp.444-457. ⟨10.1080/02652030701570156⟩. ⟨hal-00577414⟩