Simultaneous determination of 25 pesticides in Zizania latifolia by dispersive solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

An improved quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method combined with ultrapressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric method (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed to simultaneously determine 25 pesticides in Zizania latifolia. The samples were extracted with methanol(MeOH) and 0.1% formic acid (80:20, v/v) and cleaned with C(18) absorbent and primary-secondary amine (PSA). LC separation was performed on a BEH C(18) UPLC column under the condition of gradient elution with the mobile phase consisted of 0.5% formic acid (10 mM ammonium acetate)/MeOH. External standard calibration method with matrix-matched was used for quantification, and good linearity was obtained over a concentration range of 0.5–100 μg/l, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.9901. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) of the 25 pesticides were in the range of 0.2–1.0 µg/kg and 0.5–3.3 µg/kg, respectively. The recoveries ranged from 72% to 118%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were less than 20%. Thus, the proposed method is suitable for the simultaneous determination of 25 pesticides in Z. latifolia.