Simultaneous determination of spiropidion and its five major metabolites in sweet orange fruit and various processing by-products using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

The present work reported the application of an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous analysis of spiropidion and its five major metabolites in sweet orange fruit and by-products throughout the whole industrial juicing process of the orange fruit. The reversed-dispersive solid phase extraction (r-DSPE) with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was employed for the extraction and purification. The established method was validated and satisfactory parameters (linearity, trueness, precision, sensitivity, matrix effect and stability) were obtained. And then, the field trial of spiropidion on sweet oranges has been conducted and the effect of commercial juicing processing on the residue of spiropidion and its metabolites was further investigated. The various processing factors (PFs) for washing, juicing, sterilization, concentrating and essential oil collecting were also determined. The final results indicated that washing processing reduced residues by 18.4%; the juicing step allowed a significant decrease of the spiropidion residue by 34.2-70.8%, with PFs value in the range of 0.290-0.658. However, high level of residual spiropidion (ranging from 4.016 to 4.205 mg/kg) was detected in orange essential oil, with PFs value of 17.157. All the above results demonstrated the efficiency of the established method in the routine control analysis of spiropidion residues in sweet orange fruits and their by-products, and will facilitate the further intensive research on its spatial distribution, transfer and degradation during the different processing procedures of the sweet orange fruits.

Automated summary

The present study applies a UHPLC-MS/MS method to simultaneously analyze spiropidion and its major metabolites in sweet orange fruit and by-products during the industrial juicing process. The method utilizes r-DSPE with MWCNTs for extraction and purification, and has been validated for its effectiveness. The study also investigates the effect of juicing processing on spiropidion residue and determines various processing factors. The results highlight the importance of the method in routine control analysis and further research on spiropidion residues in sweet orange products.