Rapid Screening and Quantitative Analysis of 74 Pesticide Residues in Herb by Retention Index Combined with GC-QQQ-MS/MS.

Peng Tan,Ding-Kun Zhang,Jun-Ning Zhao,Xiao-Ming Bao,Xi-Chuan Wei,Chen-Juan Zeng,Hua Hua,Fu-Neng Geng,Li Xu,Hao-Zhou Huang,Krishna K Verma

doi:10.1155/2021/8816854

Peng Tan, Ding-Kun Zhang + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8816854

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Abstract

In this research, a very practical QuEChERS-GC-MS/MS analytical approach for 74 pesticide residues in herb based on retention index was established. This novel analytical approach has two important technical advantages. One advantage is to quickly screen pesticide compounds in herbs without having to use a large number of pesticide standard substances at the beginning of the experiment. The other advantage is to assist in identifying the target pesticide compound accurately. A total of 74 kinds of pesticides were quickly prescreened in all chuanxiong rhizoma samples. The results showed that three kinds of pesticides were screened out in all the samples, including chlorpyrifos, fipronil, and procymidone, and the three pesticides were qualitatively and quantitatively determined. The RSD values for interday and intraday variation were acquired to evaluate the precision of the analytical approach, and the overall interday and intraday variations are not more than 1.97% and 3.82%, respectively. The variations of concentrations of the analyzed three pesticide compounds in sample CX16 are 0.74%–4.15%, indicating that the three pesticides in the sample solutions were stable in 48 h. The spiked recoveries of the three pesticides are 95.22%, 93.03%, and 94.31%, and the RSDs are less than ± 6.0%. The methodological verification results indicated the good reliability and accuracy of the new analytical method. This research work is a new application of retention index, and it will be a valuable tool to assist quickly and accurately in the qualitative and quantitative analysis of multipesticide residues in herbs.

Highlights

With more and more traditional herbal medicines playing an important role in protecting people’s health, people are paying more attention to pesticide residues in herbal medicines [1, 2]
Experiment results showed that the first target pesticide compound was detected at 6 minutes, and the last target pesticide compound was detected at 22 minutes
The actual measured retention indexes of 74 target pesticide compounds are displayed in Table 2, and as shown, there is a small difference between the actual measured retention indexes and the original retention indexes listed in the Smart Pesticides

Summary

Introduction

With more and more traditional herbal medicines playing an important role in protecting people’s health, people are paying more attention to pesticide residues in herbal medicines [1, 2]. There are some simple and novel pesticide residue analysis methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography [11], multicolor nitrogen dots [12], and bioactive microfluidic paper device [13]. The rapid screen and quantitative analysis of multipesticide residues in herbal medicines are still facing two very difficult problems. A large number of pesticide standard substances were consumed during the quantitative analysis, resulting in high analysis costs. Another difficulty is how to accurately identify the target pesticide compound under the interference from complex chemical components in herbs. Pharmacopoeia standards in many countries strictly require pesticide residue limits in herbal medicines, it is necessary to develop some rapid, highsensitivity, low-cost analysis approach for multipesticide residues in herbs

Methods

Results

Conclusion