Evaluation and statistical analysis of the modified QuEChERS method for the extraction of pinoxaden from environmental and agricultural samples

Mian Muhammad,Muhammad Rasul Jan,Jasmin Shah,Sohail Akhtar,Hafeez Ur Rahman,Behisht Ara

doi:10.1186/s40543-017-0123-z

Abstract

BackgroundGreen chemistry focuses on an efficient extraction strategy for pesticides from agricultural and environmental samples. QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) method is used primarily, in the extraction of pesticides from food matrices. Certain modifications in the approach lead to better sensitivity and efficient extraction. This paper describes an analytical approach for spectrophotometric determination of pinoxaden herbicide in different matrices based on a modified QuEChERS method.MethodsThe original QuEChERS method was modified using different buffering media and different cleanup sorbents. Efficacy of different dispersive SPE sorbents for the cleanup was compared. The optimized conditions were applied for investigation of percent recovery and residue analysis. The presence of the residue was confirmed by employing two reported HPLC methods under optimized conditions. Statistical analysis of the data was accomplished to investigate the distribution of the subject analyte in soil.ResultsThe average percent recovery of pinoxaden was found to be in the range of 77 ± 5% to 100 ± 2% for soil, 84 ± 2% to 98 ± 2% for water samples, and 79 ± 1% to 88 ± 1% for wheat grains. Good linearity with R2 = 0.997 was achieved in acetate buffer system. Limits of detection of pinoxaden in soil, water, and wheat grain samples were found to be 0.6 μg/g, 0.48 μg/mL, and 0.31 μg/g, respectively, while limits of quantification in the above matrices were found to be 1.83 μg/g, 1.46 μg/mL, and 0.94 μg/g respectively. Statistical analysis of the data using a three-way ANOVA shows that the individual impacts of cardinal axis and time on distribution of pinoxaden (PXD) residue is statistically insignificant. However, the impact of depth on PXD residue was found to be highly significant as the p value <0.01. The interaction of the sampling time and depth of soil was found to have highly significant effect on the PXD residue in soil sample.ConclusionsThe proposed method is a milestone in the extraction of pinoxaden, a relatively new pesticide, from agricultural and environmental samples in terms of simplicity, sensitivity, and reproducibility.

Highlights

Green chemistry focuses on an efficient extraction strategy for pesticides from agricultural and environmental samples
A simplified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) approach coupled with spectrophotometric detection was used for extraction of PXD herbicides from agricultural samples
Based on the original QuEChERS method, some parameters were modified according to the nature of matrices of soil, wheat grains, and water samples

Summary

Introduction

Green chemistry focuses on an efficient extraction strategy for pesticides from agricultural and environmental samples. This paper describes an analytical approach for spectrophotometric determination of pinoxaden herbicide in different matrices based on a modified QuEChERS method. Sample preparation being the most important, challenging, labor-intensive, and time-consuming step involves homogenization, extraction, concentration, and cleanup (Anthemidis and Ioannou 2009; Liu et al 2010). LLE is considered expensive, tedious, laborious, time consuming, environmentally unfriendly, and potentially disposed to sample contamination when ultratrace determinations are necessary and not applicable to hydrophilic compounds (Anthemidis and Miró 2009; Pena-Pereira et al 2009; Zhang et al 2009)

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Results

Conclusion