Fast pesticide analysis using low‐pressure gas chromatography paired with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with short collision cell technology

RATIONALE: A proof of concept showing GC–MS/MS analysis time for pesticides can be dramatically reduced while maintaining a similar separation efficiency by combining a low‐pressure gas chromatography (LPGC) column with the enhanced selected reaction monitoring (SRM) switching speed of the short collision cell of a JEOL JMS‐TQ4000GC. METHODS: Triple‐quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (standard EI + at 70 eV) was used to measure pesticides eluting from a low‐pressure gas chromatograph capillary column. Three transitions for each of 244 pesticide compounds were measured within an 11‐min analysis time, and the data were checked to confirm the method's reproducibility and ability to distinguish all three transitions for each pesticide. RESULTS: All three transitions for all 244 pesticides were detected in the standard mixture at 1X concentration within the 11‐min analysis time. Relative standard deviation (RSD) of peak areas was less than 15% for 242 pesticides, and I/Q RSDs were less than 10% for 242 compounds. Retention time RSD over 15 replicates was less than 0.1%. CONCLUSIONS: Results show that analysis time can be markedly decreased using an LPGC column, and that the ability of the short collision cell to distinguish a large number of coeluting peaks makes the two technologies a natural pairing. The effective measurement of pesticides within a short time could benefit any scientists doing pesticide analysis work.