- Acknowledgements: The authors gratefully acknowledge the Coimbra Group for the fellowship provided to Nantia A. E. and the financial support of the Andalusia Government (Excellence Project Ref: P12-AGR-1647).
- Authors: E. Akono Nantia, D. Moreno-González, F.P.T. Manfo, J. Sonchieu, P. F. Moundipa, A.M. García-Campaña, L. Gámiz-Gracia.
- Reference: Analytical Letters 50 (2017) 1397-1409.
With the increased use of chemicals in agriculture for crop protection and improvement of yield, the contamination of water is currently a serious health concern. This study used solid-phase extraction with ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry to evaluate the presence of 23 carbamate pesticides in waters from Cameroon. The separation was achieved in 5.5 min using a C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.8 µm) with a mobile phase composed of water and methanol each containing 0.01% formic acid. The analytes were determined in positive multiple reaction monitoring mode. The recoveries for fortified water were from 75 to 99%, with relative standard deviations below 13%. The limits of detection ranged from 0.003 to 0.397 µg L−1. The reported method is simple, sensitive, and accurate, and is a suitable alternative for routine monitoring of pesticide residues at ultra-trace levels. The analysis revealed the presence of propoxur at a concentration of 0.072 µg L−1 in stream water.
