Efficient extraction of residual pesticides in agricultural products and soils for GC/MS and LC/MS analysis using supercritical fluid extraction

A solvent extraction is commonly used for pretreatment of residual pesticides in foods and soils. In the method, a substantial amount of time and effort are required and large quantities of organic solvents are consumed. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) that employs supercritical carbon dioxide as an extraction solvent provides good extraction efficiency due to high diffusivity and solubility. It affords extremely short time as well as less damaging to the environment due to small consumption of organic solvent compared to that of solvent extraction methods. We have developed an efficient SFE system that can perform up to 48 automatic and serial extractions and applied it to extraction of residual pesticides in agricultural products and soils.