Simultaneous determination of carbamate pesticide residues in grains by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A high performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of nine carbamate pesticide residues in grains. Carbamate pesticides were extracted with acetonitrile, cleaned up with neutral-alumina column, and then analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray (HPLC-ESI) (+) -tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Sample pre-treatment and LC-MS/MS analytical conditions were optimized. The linear range was 0. 1 - 100 g/L, the correlation coefficients were 0. 9986 - 0. 9998. The average recovenies of nine carbamate pesticides in spiked grains (from 0. 001 to 0. 05 mg/Kg) ranged from 73. 40% to 102. 0%, and the relative standard deviation were between 1. 3% and 9. 9%. The results indicate that the method developed is easier, faster, more sensitive and has a better purification effect. It also demonstrats that this multiresidue analysis method can meet the requirements for simultaneous determination of many carbamate pesticides in grains for import & export inspection.