Multiresidue analysis of sulfonylurea herbicides in soybeans

Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry have been developed for the simultaneous determination of multiple sulfonylurea herbicide residues in soybeans. Sulfonylurea herbicides were extracted from soybean samples with acetonitrile, and partitioned by hexane. After the extract was cleaned up with florisil column, sulfonylurea herbicides were analyzed by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-ESI(+)-MS and quantified by external standard method. Sample pre-treatment, LC and LC-MS analytical conditions were examined and optimized. The results indicated that the methods developed are easy, fast and sensitive. It also demonstrated that these multiresidue analysis methods can meet the requirements of simultaneous determination of multiple sulfonylurea herbicides for inspection of soybeans.