Simultaneous determination of spinetoram and its metabolites in rice using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A method was developed for simultaneous determination of spinetoram and its metabolites residues in rice samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Samples were extracted with acetonitrile. After clean up with PSA, the analyte was analyzed using LC-MS/MS. The results showed that the average recoveries varied from 73% to 105% at spiked levels of 0.02, 0.2 and 2 mg/kg for all the analyte. The relative standard deviations (RSD) varied from 0.9% to 10%. The limits of quantification (LOQ) (based on the recovery test) of spinetoram-J and spinetoram-L were 0.016 mg/kg and 0.004 mg/kg, respectively. The LOQ of spinetoram's metabolites were 0.02 mg/kg. As the method developed in this work is convenient, rapid and reliable, it can be applied in the qualitative and quantitative analyses of residues of spinetoram and its metabolite in rice samples.