Modification of QuEChERS Method for Acidic Pesticide (Imidacloprid) in Citrus Fruit and Some Processed Citrus Juices Using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with a Triple Quad Detector (UPLC-TQD)

Abstract

The drive to expand food production to feed the ever increasing population in the face of plant diseases, insects damaging crops and/or causing diseases and harsh weather conditions, makes it difficult for farmers to maintain the levels of demand for satisfying markets the world over. Use of agrochemicals becomes the favored choice for farmers to mitigate these agricultural challenges. Food testing laboratories have to keep up with techniques to measure low levels of various agrochemical residues in a variety of crops. This study aims to adjust or modify the QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) method to improve recovery of analytes including Imidacloprid pesticide. The study also aims to evaluate the effect of Primary Secondary Amine (PSA) in the sample extraction steps of QuEChERS method towards the extraction of Imidacloprid. Different citrus samples (oranges, grapefruit, lemons, clementines, satsuma, 50% orange juice, 100% orange juice and 100% grapefruit juice) were extracted using the QuEChERS method protocol and the QuEChERS method without PSA. The results were satisfactory for both the methods used. Imidacloprid was found to favor the basic environment created by the use of PSA during the cleanup step.