Multiresidue Determination of Six Pesticide Adjuvants in Characteristic Minor Crops Using QuEChERS Method and Gas Chromatography‐Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

AbstractA new multiresidue analysis method using a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) procedure for the determination of 6 pesticide adjuvants (toluene, p‐xylene, o‐xylene, m‐xylene, N, N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) in characteristic minor crops was developed via gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). Matrices, including lily bulb, millet, and Chinese yam, were extracted with CH3CN/CH3CN‐H2O and then cleaned up by primary secondary amine (PSA), followed by GC‐MS analysis with selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. Under the optimal conditions, the established QuEChERS‐GC/MS method showed good linearity (r>0.998) for all targets with limits of detection of 0.001‐0.005 mg kg‐1 for benzene compounds, 0.012‐0.022 mg kg‐1 for DMF, and 0.012‐0.024 mg kg‐1 for DMSO, respectively. The average recoveries in the three characteristic minor crop samples ranged from 72.9% to 94.9% with relative standard deviations from 2.4% to 9.9%. The method is demonstrated to be accurate, sensitive, and convenient and thus could be applied for routinely monitoring multiresidues of pesticide adjuvants in agro‐products.