Analysis of Residual Pesticides in Agricultural ProductsUsing Nexera UC Off-Line SFE-GC/MS System

Introduction

Since enforcement of the positive list system for residual pesticides in foods in 2006 in Japan, over 800 pesticides have been included in the system. Consequently, there is now a strong demand for effective analytical methods encompassing any sample pretreatment steps that are capable of inspecting large numbers of pesticides. Conventionally, analysis of residual pesticides in foods has involved pesticide extraction by a solvent extraction method before analysis by LC/MS or GC/MS. The problem with solvent extraction methods is that sample pretreatment requires a substantial amount of time and effort, and large quantities of organic solvents are used. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) that uses supercritical carbon dioxide as the extraction solvent provides good extraction efficiency, where the solvent is similar to gas in terms of low viscosity and high diffusivity, and similar to fluid in terms of high solubility. This allows for extraction within a short period of time. This extraction method is also less damaging to the environment since it uses a smaller amount of organic solvent compared to conventional solvent extraction methods. We introduce an example GC/MS analysis of pesticides extracted from an agricultural products using the Nexera UC off-line SFE system.

January 13, 2016 GMT