Chiral Pesticides with Asymmetric Sulfur: Extraction, Separation, and Determination in Different Environmental Matrices

Rocío López-Cabeza,Antonio Francioso

doi:10.3390/separations9020029

Abstract

Chiral pesticides with S atoms as asymmetric centers are gaining great importance in the search for new pesticides with new modes of action. As for the rest of the chiral pesticides, the determination of the stereoisomers separately has become crucial in the environmental risks assessment of these pesticides. Therefore, the development of suitable extraction and clean-up methods as well as efficient stereoselective analytical techniques for stereoisomers determination in environmental samples is essential. Currently, liquid/solid phase extraction, microextraction, and QuEChERS-based methods are most commonly used to obtain chiral pesticides from environmental samples. Gas, liquid, and supercritical fluid chromatography together with capillary electrophoresis techniques are the most important for the determination of the stereoisomers of chiral pesticides containing S atoms in its structure. In this study, all these techniques are briefly reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed.

Highlights

The development of more effective, selective, eco-friendly, and profitable agrochemicals has led to the design of pesticides with increasingly complex structures, many of them chiral [1,2]
Several techniques based on solid phase extraction (SPE) have been used for the extraction of chiral pesticides, as well as for cleaning up extracts from environmental samples
The most common analytical techniques reported for the determination of chiral pesticides in environmental samples are based on gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), and capillary electrophoresis (CE)

Summary

Introduction

The development of more effective, selective, eco-friendly, and profitable agrochemicals has led to the design of pesticides with increasingly complex structures, many of them chiral [1,2]. Only one enantiomer is generally active against the target organism, while the other may be inactive, have a different active function, or even be toxic to non-target organisms [4] For these reasons, determining the concentration of each enantiomer/stereoisomer separately in environmental samples (soil, water, and plant samples, among others) has become crucial for the environmental risk assessment of chiral pesticides. The asymmetric center of a chiral compound is a carbon atom attached to four different groups, the chirality is possible due to the presence of an Separations 2022, 9, 29. Since, In asthis mentioned above, physicochemical properties of the of pesticide enantiomers from environmental samples are described, emphasizing the analysis enantiomers are identical, which makes their individual determination considerably of chiral pesticides with an asymmetrical sulfur atom in their structure. Recovery (and reproducibility) of stereoisomers from complex environmental samples, as well as minimize the matrix interferences

Methods

Organophosphorus

Findings

Conclusions and Future Perspective