Determination of N-methyl carbamate pesticides in diet samples by high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap mass spectrometry with gel permeation chromatography cleanup

Abstract

A method for the determination of N-methyl carbamate (NMC) pesticides in diet samples was developed by high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (HPLC-LIT-MS). The samples with the isotope internal standard were ultrasonically extracted with acetonitrile saturated with cyclohexane, and then cleaned-up by passing through gel permeation chromatographic (GPC) column. The LC separation was performed on a CAPCELL PAK CR column (100 mm x 2.1 mm, 5 microm; SCX-C18 (1 : 4)) using acetonitrile and 5 mmol/L ammonium formate/0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous solution as mobile phases (gradient elution) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The ionization of the analytes was performed by positive electrospray mode. Selective reaction monitoring (SRM) was used for the monitoring of MS3 transitions for each compound. The internal standard was used for quantitation. The average recoveries were in the range of 60.4% - 114%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were all not more than 16.2%. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.001-0.010 mg/kg. The method was successfully applied to the determination of 15 compounds of interest in nine foodstuffs from the fourth Chinese Total Diet Study (TDS) performed in 2007, and aldicarb and carbofuran were found in several samples.