Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Apple Using Agilent Bond Elut QuEChERS EN Kits by GC/MS

This application note describes the use of a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) sample preparation approach described in the European Committee (EN) for extraction and cleanup of 17 GC-amenable multiple pesticide class residues in apple. The method involves initial extraction in an aqueous/acetonitrile system, an extraction/partitioning step after the addition of salt, and a cleanup step using dispersive solid phase extraction (dispersive SPE). The two different dispersive SPE cleanup approaches (1 mL and 6 mL aliquot volumes) were evaluated simultaneously after sample extraction. The target pesticides in the apple extracts were then analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) operating in selective ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The method was validated in terms of recovery and reproducibility. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for pesticides in apple is 10 ng/g. This application employed Agilent's Bond Elut QuEChERS kit and produced results well below the maximum residue limits (MRLs) for all the pesticides screened. The spiked levels for the recovery experiments were 10, 50, and 200 ng/g. Recoveries ranged between 68 and 112% (86.0% on average), with RSD below 15% (4.7% on average). Authors Limian Zhao, Philip L. Wylie and Joan Stevens Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2850 Centerville Road Wilmington, DE 19809-1610 USA Application Note