Supercritical fluid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry-assisted methodology for rapid enantiomeric analysis of fenbuconazole and its chiral metabolites in fruits, vegetables, cereals, and soil

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Here, we developed a rapid and robust supercritical fluid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous detection of fenbuconazole and its chiral metabolites in fruit, vegetable, cereal, and soil. Baseline separation of six stereoisomers was achieved on an amylose tris-(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)-coated chiral column in 4.0min using a mobile phase composed of CO2/ethanol (flow rate of 1.8mL/min). Ionisation efficiency and sensitivity was optimized with a post-column compensation solvent (0.1% formic acid/methanol). Target analytes were extracted with acetonitrile and purified using dispersive solid phase extraction sorbents. Six stereoisomers at three concentrations (5, 50, and 250µg/kg) achieved satisfactory recoveries (76.3–104.6%) with RSDs≤11.5% Excellent linearities (R2≥0.9963) and the limits of quantification (LOQs, 0.13–3.31μg/kg) were established for all six stereoisomers. Results show that the proposed method is suitable for routine detection of six stereoisomers of fenbuconazole and its chiral metabolites in food and environmental samples.