Automated Derivatization, SPE Clean-up and LC/MS/MS Determination of Glyphosate and Other Polar Pesticides

Poster Presentation

Prepared by F. Foster1, O. Cabrices1, A. Schreiber2
1 - GERSTEL Inc, 701 Digital Drive Suite J, Linthicum, MD, 21090, United States
2 - AB SCIEX , 71 Four Valley Drive, Concord, Ontario, L4K 4V8, Canada


Contact Information: fdfoster@gerstelus.com; 410-204-7255


ABSTRACT

Glyphosate and glufosinate are widely used herbicides and, thus, there is an interest in the reliable and sensitive determination of glyphosate in water and food. These pesticides are difficult to extract and analyze because of their high polarity. In this report, we describe an automated workflow for the FMOC-derivatization, sample cleanup, and LC/MS/MS analysis using a GERSTEL Multi Purpose Sampler (MPS) 2XL configured with an online solid phase extraction (SPEXOS) module coupled to an AB SCIEX QTRAP® 4500 system for the identification and quantitation of glyphosate, its major metabolite AMPA, and glufosinate in water and food samples. The online SPE-LC/MS/MS method allowed detection and quantitation of all target pesticides in matrix samples at 10 μg/kg concentrations with excellent reproducibility and values well in between ± 20%.