Application of liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry to the determination of a new generation of pesticides in processed fruits and vegetables

This paper describes a method for the sensitive and selective determination of 24 new pesticide residues (azoxystrobin, trifloxystrobin, kresoxim-methyl, fenazaquin, indoxacarb, fenothiocarb, furathiocarb, benfuracarb, imidachloprid, dimethomorph, fenpyroximate, hexythiazox, tebufenpyrad, tebufenozide, difeconazole, fenbuconazole, flusilazole, paclobutrazol, tebuconazole, tetraconazole, bromuconazole, etofenprox, fenhexamid, pyridaben) in apple puree, concentrated lemon juice and tomato puree. A miniaturized extraction–partition procedure requiring small amounts of non-chlorinated solvents was used. The extracts are analyzed by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC–ESI–MS–MS) without any further clean-up step. The pesticides are separated on a reversed-phase polar column using a gradient elution. Fifty-five simultaneous MS–MS transitions of precursor ions were monitored (two or three for each pesticide). Studies at fortification levels of 0.001–0.020 and 0.010–0.200 mg/kg gave mean recoveries ranging from 76 to 106% for all compounds, except for imidacloprid, with (R.S.D.s) ≤15%. The excellent sensitivity and selectivity of LC–MS–MS method allowed quantitation and identification at low levels also in difficult matrices with a run time of 20 min. With the developed method almost 100 samples of commercial fruit products (nectars, juices, purees) were analyzed. None of samples contained residues higher than 0.010 mg/kg.