Abstract:
Objective A method using QuEChERS extraction followed by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) to detect residues of five pesticides in tea was developed.
Method Ground tea samples were soaked in distilled water for 30 min and extracted with acetonitrile under ultrasonication. The extract was purified by QuEChERS method and analyzed by GC-MS/MS with external standards.
Result A high sensitivity of the assay was demonstrated by the limits of quantitation on hydroprene, genite, fluoronitrofen, and chlornitrofen at 0.003 mg·kg−1 and on kinoprene at 0.01 mg·kg−1 with a quadratic fitting coefficients greater than and equal to 0.998, respectively, in the concentration range of 0.004~0.40 μg·mL−1. The average rate of assay recovery was 75.4~108.4% with a relative standard deviation of 3.5~7.7%.
Conclusion The newly developed method was simple, sensitive, and economic in operation. It was deemed suitable for the determination of hydroprene, kinoprene, genite, fluoronitrofen, and chlornitrofen residues in tea.