Determination of eight defoliant residues in cotton by accelerated solvent extraction coupled with ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A novel method has been developed for the rapid extraction and determination of eight defoliants including thidiazuron, butiphos, methabenzthiazuron, abscisic acid, carfentra-zone-ethyl, diuron, paraquat, and pyrithiobac-sodium in cotton by accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) coupled with ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The defoliants in cotton were extracted by ASE and the extracts were dried by a rotavapor, then redissolved in the solvents of acetonitrile and water (1:9, v/v). The chromatographic analysis was performed on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (50 mmx 2. 1 mm, 1. 8 microm) by a gradient elution employing of acetonitrile and 0.05% (v/v) formic acid as mobile phases. The analytes were detected by electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in positive ion mode. Good linearities (r >0.99) were observed between 0. 01 and 0. 3 mg/L for all the compounds. The recoveries and relative standard deviations (RSDs) were obtained by spiking untreated samples with the eight defoliants at 0. 1, 0. 5 and 1.0 mg/kg. The average recoveries of the eight defoliants were from (84. 18 +/- 8.04)% to (95.99 +/- 6.76)%. The precision values expressed as RSDs were from 7. 04% to 10. 60% (n = 6). The limits of detection were 0. 8 - 29 microg/kg and the limits of quantification were 2.5 - 96 1/4g/kg for the analytes. The results ahowed that the method is simple, rapid, sensitive and accurate, and is suitable for the quantitative determination and confirmation of the eight defoliants in cotton.