Quantitative determination of pyrethroids, pyrethrins, and piperonyl butoxide in surface water by high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry

A new method for determination of pyrethroids, pyrethrins, and piperonyl butoxide (PBO) by high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS) was developed for surface water samples. The method is based on sampling 100 L of ambient surface water with a solid phase extraction (SPE) technique that uses both wound glass fiber filters for collecting the particulate-associated chemicals and XAD-2 resin for collecting the dissolved chemicals. The method detection limits of the analytes ranged from 0.58 to 8.16 ng/sample, which is equivalent to a detection limit range of 0.0058-0.082 ng/L for a 100 L water sample collected by the SPE technique. The SPE when coupled with HRGC/HRMS was a suitable match for detecting these chemicals at subnanogram per liter ranges that are toxicologically significant to aquatic organisms. To confirm the utility of this method for environmental applications, pyrethroids and PBO were found at subnanogram per liter concentrations in surface water samples collected from five tributaries (primarily urban creeks) of the San Francisco Bay, California.