European Regulation 396/2005 sets maximum residue levels of pesticides in different products of plant and animal origin. These regulations present a significant analytical challenge with respect to LOQs required for some specified food matrices such as baby food. The multi-residue pesticide method described can be applied to fruits, cereals and composite baby foods at LODs in the range of 0.8–10.3 µg/kg - below respective EU maximum residue limits (MRLs). The method is validated for 48 pesticides from different classes, but can be readily extended to a larger number of residues.

In recent years, the use of LC-MS/MS for pesticide analysis has become increasingly popular due to the amenability of electrospray ionization (ESI) for polar compounds. This application note describes the Multi-residue assay of a group of pesticides in drinking water by EQuan. The method utilizes SRM for Quantification, followed by Data Dependent™ QED MS/MS and library searching for the structural confirmation of these analytes.

Chloroacetanilide herbicide compounds in drinking water, specifically ethanesulfonic acid (ESA) and oxanillic acid (OA) degradates, may be found in water supplies near agricultural production areas and are used on various crops including corn and soybeans. Therefore, monitoring of these compounds is of interest to various regulatory agencies around the world. This application note illustrates the direct analysis of drinking water spiked with chloroacetanilide herbicide compounds. Excellent linearity and reproducibility are demonstrated over the entire calibration range.

We describe a method incorporating direct analysis in real time (DART) ionization and Thermo Scientific Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry for rapid analysis and identification of contaminating substances in water.

We developed a multi-residue LC-MS/MS screening method to detect 88 analytes using a single, automated experiment with a short chromatographic time scale. We demonstrate the utility of using different time segments and scan events, illustrate the large linear dynamic range for pesticide analysis in a multi-residue context, and show the absence of “cross-talk” between co-eluting components.