Detectors for the Analysis of Pesticides Residues

Abstract

The modern crop-farming has raised demands for the increasing use of synthetic pesticides. These newly introduced pesticides have exhibited an enhanced specific action, polarity, and portray a reduced persistence. These have paved the way for their augmented use. Pesticides penetrate the atmosphere when they are poorly adsorbed onto the applied surface of the soil. This partial adsorption leads to the presence of these pesticides in the surrounding water bodies and plants. These find their way up the food chain and reach the food products. Pesticides exist in either ppt or ppb levels. Subsequently, a highly specific analytical procedure needs to be applied for the target pesticides to be detected in a single run.We reviewed that, currently, gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry (GC-ITMS) and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC –MS-MS) are the most preferred methods due to their noteworthy selectivity, specificity and separation ability. Supplementary to the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods, there exist quantification methods like liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS-MS), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and low-pressure gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LP–GC /MS ). Conclusively, the pesticide residues can be resolved only up to an extent by gas chromatography or liquid chromatography-based technique. There is a need to develop more efficient techniques while keeping these techniques still in use, for the satisfactory separation of the pesticide residues.Keywords Pesticides detection Air contamination Water contamination Soil penetration Food products Gas chromatographyHigh-performance liquid chromatographyGas chromatography-mass spectrometryLiquid chromatography-mass spectrometry Tandem mass spectrometry