Evaluation of Hydromatrix and Magnesium Sulfate Drying Agents for Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Multiple Pesticides in Produce

Abstract

The simultaneous extraction of relatively polar and nonpolar pesticides has been problematic in multiresidue analysis using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with carbon dioxide. In fruit and vegetable samples, which typically contain 80–95% water, moisture acts to increase SFE recoveries of many polar pesticides, but a drying agent should be used to control water in SFE. Hydromatrix, a prevalent drying agent, has many desirable characteristics, but it reduces recovery of certain important pesticides, such as methamidophos, acephate, and omethoate. MgSO₄ has been shown previously to be applicable for the extraction of methamidophos and six other pesticides, but MgSO₄ has practical disadvantages in its use. In this study, properties and SFE results with the individual drying agents and their combination were evaluated. Simultaneous recoveries for polar and nonpolar pesticides were achieved for 71 pesticides fortified in apple using a mixture of 2 + 1 + 2 MgSO₄·H₂O–Hydromatrix–sample for extraction. The advantages of each drying agent were maintained by their combination. The analysis of real samples, however, showed that more study was needed to improve recoveries of nonpolar pesticides.