Determination of Gibberellin A3 residue in fruit samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A fast, simple, low cost, and high throughput method has been developed for the determination of Gibberellin A3 residue in fruit samples (apple, orange, peach, pear and grape). Analysis is performed by LC-MS/MS operated in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, acquiring two specific precursor-product ion transitions per target compound. The method has been validated showing good linearity and selectivity. Limits of quantification (LOQs) were 10 pig kg(-1) for apple, orange, peach, pear and grape samples. The average recoveries, measured at three concentration levels (10,20 and 200 mu g kg(-1)) were in the range 77.8-96.2% for the compound tested with relative standard deviations below 13.7%. The proposed method is rapid, simple and could be utilised for the routine analysis of Gibberellin A3 in fruit samples. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.