GPC Cleanup in Analysis of Pesticide Residue in Food

Introduction

When analyzing pesticide residues in agricultural products, fats and pigments contained in the sample should be removed during pretreatment, because they can contaminate the GC or GCMS injection port, and also interfere with the peaks of the target substances. However, the conventional solvent extraction method, which is time-consuming and involves complex procedures, is not suited to processing multiple samples. GPC (Gel Permeation Chromatography) is a technique that separates the chemical constituents of a sample according to molecular size. It efficiently separates fats and pigments, which have larger molecular sizes than pesticides, from pesticide components, allowing automated purification. Due to this advantage, GPC is adopted as a purification (cleanup) method in the residual pesticides pesticide residue rapid analysis method prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Chemical Hygiene No. 43, April 8, 1997). This Application News introduces the principle of GPC cleanup and application examples of the Shimadzu GPC cleanup system.

February 13, 2004 GMT