title: Residue analysis of 500 high priority pesticides: better by GC-MS or LC-MS/MS?
abstract: This overview evaluates the capabilities of mass spectrometry (MS) in combination with gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) for the determination of a multitude of pesticides. The selection of pesticides for this assessment is based on the status of production, the existence of regulations on maximum residue levels in food, and the frequency of residue detection. GC-MS with electron impact (EI) ionization and the combination of LC with tandem mass spectrometers (LC-MS/MS) using electrospray ionization (ESI) are identified as techniques most often applied in multi-residue methods for pesticides at present. Therefore, applicability and sensitivity obtained with GC-EI-MS and LC-ESI-MS/MS is individually compared for each of the selected pesticides. Only for one substance class only, the organochlorine pesticides, GC-MS achieves better performance. For all other classes of pesticides, the assessment shows a wider scope and better sensitivity if detection is based on LC-MS.
authors.affiliation: Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Residue Analysis Unit, Thielallee 88-92, 14195 Berlin, Germany. l.adler@bfr.bund.de
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alder
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Greulich
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kempe
authors.forename: Bärbel
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vieth
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D010575:Pesticides