Multi-Residue Determination of Pesticides in Vegetables by Gas Chromatography/Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry

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.