Enantioselective separation, analysis and stereoselective dissipation of the chiral pesticide cloquintocet-mexyl using a modified QuEChERS method by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

An efficient and novel enantioseparation method was successfully developed and validated to quantify the enantiomers of cloquintocet-mexyl in soil, millet, enoki mushroom, oilseed rape, and watermelon using a modified QuEChERS technique combined with HPLC-MS/MS. This method showed reliable performances for determining both enantiomers of cloquintocet-mexyl in all five matrices. The limits of detection and limits of quantification were in the range of 0.06-0.15 mu g kg-1 and 0.2-0.5 mu g kg-1, respectively. Good linearities were obtained with correlation coefficients >= 0.9954. The mean recoveries were between 84.1% and 111.5%, with relative standard deviations ranging from 1.2% to 9.8% at three spiked levels. Additionally, the study of stereoselective dissipation of cloquintocet-mexyl in soil indicated that (R)-cloquintocet-mexyl was preferentially degraded. This work is the first to describe a chiral analytical method and enantioselective behavior of cloquintocet-mexyl and provide basic data for the risk evaluation of cloquintocet-mexyl in food and environmental safety.

Automated summary

An efficient and novel enantioseparation method was developed and validated to quantify the enantiomers of cloquintocet-mexyl in different matrices. The method showed reliable performance and provided basic data for the risk evaluation of cloquintocet-mexyl in food and environmental safety.