Determination of 16 pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables by QuEChERS-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive and convenient liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for the determination of 16 pesticides such as imidacloprid, prochloraz, difenoconazole, azoxystrobin, and thiamethoxam in fruits and vegetables. After compared with methanol and acetone-cyclohexane (1:2, v/v), acetonitrile was chosen as the extraction solvent. The samples were extracted by acetonitrile in high-speed homogenization. The extraction solution was cleaned up by liquid-liquid extraction, and the supernatant was collected. In this work, QuEChERS exhibited much higher efficiency than Carbon-NH2 solid-phase extraction in purification. The pigments and organic acids were removed by purge line (150 mg primary secondary amine (PSA) sorbent and 900 mg absolute magnesium sulfate), leading to the decrease of the background interferences. The average recoveries of the 16 pesticides were almost in the range of 75%-111% at the three spiked levels, and the relative standard deviations were less than 16%. The qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis were investigated by LC-MS/MS and matrix-matched calibration curves. The results showed that the method of QuEChERS combined with LC-MS/MS is rapid, accurate and sensitive for the determination of the 16 pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables.