Multi-residue determination of pesticides in tropical fruits using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Monitoring pesticide residues in tropical fruits is of great interest for many countries, e.g., from South America, that base an important part of their economy on the exportation of these products. In this work, a LC-MS/MS multi-residue method using a triple quadrupole analyzer has been developed for around 30 pesticides in seven Colombian tropical fruits of high commercial value for domestic and international markets (uchuva, tamarillo, granadilla, gulupa, maracuya, papaya, and pithaya). After sample extraction with acetonitrile, an aliquot of the extract was diluted with water and directly injected into the HPLC-MS/MS system (electrospray interface) without any cleanup step. The formation of sodium adducts—of poor fragmentation—was minimized using 0.1% formic acid in the mobile phase, which favored the formation of the protonated molecule. However, the addition of ammonium acetate made the formation of the ammonium adducts in some particular cases possible, avoiding the presence of the sodium adducts. The highest sensitivity was observed in positive electrospray ionization for the wide majority of pesticides, with a few exceptions for acidic compounds that gave better response in the negative mode (e.g., 2,4-D, fluazinan). Thus, simultaneous acquisition on the positive/negative mode was applied. Two MS/MS transitions were acquired for each compound to ensure a reliable quantification and identification of the compounds detected in samples, although for malathion a third transition was acquired due to the presence of interfering isobaric compounds in the sample extracts. A detailed study of matrix effects was made by a comparison of standards in solvent and in matrix. Both ionization suppression and ionization enhancement were observed depending on the analyte/matrix combination tested. Correction of matrix effects was made by the application of calibration in matrix. Three matrices were selected (uchuva, maracuya, gulupa) to perform matrix calibration in the analysis of all seven fruit varieties studied. The method was validated by recovery experiments in samples spiked at two levels (0.05 and 0.5 mg/kg). The data were satisfactory for the wide majority of analyte/matrix combinations, with most recoveries between 70% and 110% and the RSD below 15%. Several samples collected from the market were finally analyzed. Positive findings were confirmed by evaluating the experimental Q/q ratios and retention times, and comparing them with those of reference standards.