Capillary liquid chromatography as an effective method for the determination of seven neonicotinoid residues in honey samples

  • Acknowledgements: This study was financially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project ref: AGL2015-70708-R). LCR thanks the Youth Employment Operational Program co-funded by the Junta de Andalucía and the European Social Fund (ESF). FJL is grateful for personal funding through the Special Research Program of the University of Granada.
  • Authors: L. Carbonell-Rozas, F.J. Lara, M. del Olmo Iruela, A.M. García-Campaña.
  • Reference: Journal of Separation Science 43 (2020) 3847-3855.

A new analytical method based on capillary liquid chromatography with diode array detection has been developed for the simultaneous quantification of seven neonicotinoid insecticides commercially available (imidacloprid, thiacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, nitenpyram, and dinotefuran) in honey samples. The separation was achieved in a Zorbax XDB-C18 column (150 × 0.5 mm id, 5 μm), with a mobile phase consisting of ultrapure water (solvent A) and acetonitrile (solvent B) at a flow rate of 10 μL/min. Capillary column was thermostated at 25◦C during the analysis and 254 or 270 nm was established as detection wavelength, depending on the analyte. Furthermore, full loop injection mode (8 μL) was selected, using water as injection solvent. Finally, the optimized method was applied to the analysis of neonicotinoid residues in honey of different floral origins using dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction as sample treatment. Variables affecting the extraction efficiency were optimized, choosing methanol and dichloromethane as dispersive and extraction solvents, respectively. The method was characterized in terms of linearity (𝑅2 ≥ 0.9948), repeatability, reproducibility (relative standard deviation below 4.5 and 6.3% respectively), and recoveries (≥80.5%). Detection and quantification limits were lower than 6.6 and 22.0 μg/kg for the studied analytes, respectively.

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