Determination of 12 insect growth regulator residues in foods of different matrixes by modified QuEChERS and UPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

An analytical method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of 12 insect growth regulators (IGRs) (buprofezin, cyantraniliprole, flubendiamide, flonicamid, tolfenpyrad, chlorantraniliprole, RH-5849, methoxyfenozide, chromafenozide, tebufenozide, pyriproxyfen and fenoxycarb) in foods collected from different matrixes by modified QuEChERS and ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The samples were ultrasonically extracted with acetonitrile containing 0.5% formic acid, and different QuEChERS purification conditions were optimized for different matrixes (vegetable oil, fruit and tea). 12 IGRs were separated on a Plus C₁₈ column, and detected by MS/MS under multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The developed method was validated in terms of linearity, matrix effect, accuracy and precision. Acceptable recoveries of IGRs in three different substrates (vegetable oil, tea and fruit) at three spiked levels were in the range of 65.47–95.17%, 80.55–110.15%, and 62.02–96.50%, respectively, with RSDs less than 11.58%. The method showed a good linearity (R² ≥ 0.9994) for all analytes in the range of 0.2–200 μg L⁻¹. The LODs (S/N = 3) and LOQs (S/N = 10) of the method were 0.04–0.40 μg kg⁻¹, and 0.13–1.24 μg kg⁻¹, respectively. Owing to the advantages of simple operation, high accuracy and sensitivity, this method is suitable for the rapid and simultaneous detection of 12 IGRs in vegetable oil, tea and fruit.