Determination of Metaldehyde in Water by SPE and UPLC–MS–MS

Abstract

A simple, rapid, sensitive and reliable analytical method for the determination of metaldehyde in water by ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–ESI–MS–MS) was developed. Water samples were directly purified on C18 cartridge. Then metaldehyde was eluted using 2 mL of methanol/water (85:15 v/v) and directly analyzed by UPLC–MS–MS on an Acquity BHE C18 column with methanol/20 mM ammonium acetate solution (85:15 v/v) as mobile phase. The samples were quantified with the external standard calibration curve method. Good linearity was obtained for metaldehyde at a concentration of 0.05–5 ng mL−1 with a linear relative coefficient >0.999. Recoveries of 96.1–106.3% with CVs of 2.61–4.77% were obtained. Limit of detection was 0.003 ng mL−1. The method demonstrated to be suitable for the determination of metaldehyde in water samples.