Sensitive monitoring of benzoylurea insecticides in water and juice samples treated with multiple monolithic fiber solid-phase microextraction and liquid chromatographic analysis

• A new MMF/MAED-SPME was designed and prepared.
• Preparation and extraction conditions were studied thoroughly.
• MMF/MAED-SPME can extract benzoylurea insecticides (BUs) effectively.
• Sensitive determination method for BUs in water and juice samples was developed.

In present study, a convenient, sensitive and environmentally friendly method for the determination of five benzoylurea insecticides (BUs) in water and juice samples was developed. To extract trace benzoylurea insecticides effectively, poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolith was prepared and used as the sorbent of multiple monolithic fiber solid-phase microextraction (MMF-SPME). The influences of preparation conditions of monolith and extraction parameters of MMF-SPME on BUs were studied thoroughly. Under the optimized conditions, the combination of MMF-SPME with high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (MMF-SPME-HPLC-DAD) showed expected analytical performance for target analytes. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) of the developed method were 0.026–0.075 μg L−1 in water and 0.053–0.29 μg L−1 in juice samples. Good linearity was obtained for analytes with the correlation coefficients (R2) above 0.99. Satisfactory repeatability and reproducibility was achieved, with relative standard deviations (RSD) of both less than 10%. Finally, the established MMF-SPME-HPLC-DAD method was successfully applied for the determination of BUs residues in juice and environmental water samples. Recoveries obtained for the determination of BUs in spiking samples ranged from 65.1% to 118%, with RSD below 10% in all cases.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide