Determination of pendimethalin residues in Procambarus clarkii by high performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Abstract

A novel method was developed for the determination of pendimethalin in Procambarus clarkii by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Samples were extracted with ethyl acetate containing 0.1%(v/v) acetic acid, and the extracts were dried at 35℃. The final extracts were redissolved with methanol-water (8:2, v/v) containing 0.1%(v/v) acetic acid and cleaned up by acidic alumina column and graphitized carbon black (GCB). The prepared samples were separated on a Symmetry C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 3.5 μm) and characterized using a heated electrospray ionization (HESI) source in the positive ion multiple reaction monitoring mode. Under optimum experimental conditions, the standard curve was linear in the range of 1.0-20.0 μg/L with the correlation coefficient of 0.9960. The limit of detection was 0.5 μg/kg. The spiked recoveries of the pendimethalin in the Procambarus clarkii samples ranged from 63.3% to 104.7% with RSDs of 6.9%-14.5% (n=7). The proposed method is quick, simple and sensitive, and suitable for the rapid determination and analysis of pendimethalin in Procambarus clarkii samples.