According to The Pesticide Manual, more than 700 pesticides are currently approved for use around the world. Some of these pesticides that have been discontinued still persist in the environment and can bioaccumulate in flora and fauna. Many pesticides and their degradation products can be found at trace levels in food and beverages, soil, water, air, aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna, as well as in human blood, adipose tissue, and breast milk. The World Health Organization has classified pesticides into five groups based on their acute toxicity to humans. Current analytical methods target comprehensive pesticide screening using GC/MSD with Deconvolution Reporting Software Application to track pesticide distribution in the environment and ensure a safe food supply.
This document details a method for screening over 567 pesticides and suspected endocrine disrupters in a single GC/MS analysis. The approach utilizes Retention Time Locking (RTL) and spectral deconvolution to identify compounds even when they are buried under co-eluting matrix compounds. It addresses the limitations of traditional multiresidue methods that often miss non-targeted compounds.
| Number of pesticides screened | 567 |
|---|---|
| Gas Chromatograph Model | Agilent 6890N |
| Mass Selective Detector Model | Agilent 5973 inert |
| Scan range | 50-550 amu |
| Software included | GC/MSD ChemStation, Deconvolution Reporting Software (DRS) |
The method developed allows screening for 567 pesticides and suspected endocrine disrupters in a single GC/MS analysis.
RTL helps to eliminate false positives and gives greater confidence in the results by matching analyte retention times on any Agilent 6890 GC.