Evaluation of various QuEChERS based methods for the analysis of herbicides and other commonly used pesticides in polished rice by LC–MS/MS

Four different extraction and clean-up protocols based on the QuEChERS method were compared for the development of an optimized sample preparation procedure for the multiresidue analysis of 16 commonly applied herbicides in rice crops using LC-QqQ/MS. Additionally the methods were evaluated for the analysis of 26 insecticides and fungicides currently used in rice crops. The methods comprise, in general, the hydratation of the sample with water followed by the extraction with acetonitrile, phase separation with the addition of different salts and finally a clean-up step with various sorbents. Matrix effects were evaluated for the 4 studied methods using LC-QqQ/MS. Additionally LC-TOF/MS was used to compare the co-extractants obtained with the four assayed methodologies. Thirty-six pesticides presented good performance with recoveries in the range 70–120% and relative standard deviations below 20% using 7.5g of milled polished rice and the buffered acetate QuEChERS method without clean-up at both fortification levels: 10 and 300μgkg−1. The other six pesticides presented low recovery rates, nevertheless all these analytes could be analyzed with at least one of the other three studied procedures.