Screening of 115 pesticide residues in Chinese prickly ash by QuEChERS-gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid multiresidue analysis method for 115 pesticides in Chinese prickly ash based on QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) procedure combined with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was developed and validated. The samples were pretreated with optimized QuEChERS technique, detected by GC-MS/MS based on multiple reaction monitoring mode, and analyzed quantitatively by matrix-matched internal standard method. The validation results showed a good linear relationship within the calibration linearity range of 0.002-0.4 mg/L with the correlation coefficient(r) greater than 0.99. The limits of quantification for 115 pesticides were in the range of 0.01-0.02 mg/kg. The recoveries were in the range of 51%-150% with the RSDs of 0.8%-34%, when the fortified level was 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg. Among them, the recoveries of 80 pesticides were in the range of 70%-120% which met the residue analysis requirements. This method was simple, fast, accurate, precision and sensitivity, which provided a reliable analytical tool for rapid screening of pesticide multiresidues in Chinese prickly ash.