Simultaneous determination of five strobilurin fungicides and the metabolite BF-500-3 in cereals,fruits and vegetables

A rapid and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of five strobilurin fungicides and the metabolite BF-500-3 in cereals (maize and wheat), fruits (grape and apple) and vegetables (cucumber and tomato) was developed by a Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) method using high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The five strobilurin fungicides (kresoxim-methyl, picoxystrobin, pyraclostrobin, azoxystrobin and trifloxystrobin) and the metabolite BF-500-3 were extracted from six matrices using acetonitrile and subsequently cleaned up by dispersive solid phase extraction (d-SPE) using octadecylsilane (C₁₈) as sorbent prior to HPLC-MS/MS analysis. The determination of the six compounds was achieved in less than 6.0 min using an electrospray ionisation source in positive mode (ESI+). This method showed the linearity with the coefficients of determination (R²) higher than 0.9929. The limits of quantification (LOQs), defined as the lowest spiking level, were 5 μg/kg for all the fungicides in all matrices. Recovery studies were performed at three fortification levels (5, 10 and 100 μg/kg) and the overall average recoveries ranged from 76.9% to 114.2% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 13.6% for all the analytes. The method is demonstrated to be convenient and reliable for the routine monitoring of five strobilurin fungicides and the metabolite BF-500-3 in cereals, fruits and vegetables.