Simultaneous determination of nicosulfuron and MCPA residues in corn and soil by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid method for the simultaneous determination of nicosulfuron and MCPA residues in corn and soil was devoloped based on dispersive solid-phase extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS).The samples were extracted into acetonitrile containing 0.1% formic acid and then purified on C18.The nicosulfuron and MCPA were analyzed by UPLC-MS/MS under multiple reaction monitoring mode.External standard calibration curves were used for the quantitative analysis.There were good linear correlations between the responses and concentrations of nicosulfuron and MCPA.The recoveries of nicosulfuron and MCPA in different samples were in range of 74.6%-98.0% and 81.3%-100.0% with the relative standard deviations(RSDs) of 1.1%-3.4% and 1.7%-10.5%.The limit of quantitation of this method was 0.005 mg/kg.