Determination of five pesticides in juice, fruit and vegetable samples by means of liquid chromatography combined with multivariate curve resolution

• Five pesticides were determined in juice, fruit and vegetable samples.
• Liquid chromatography was coupled to diode array detection.
• Chromatographic-spectral matrices were analyzed by multivariate curve resolution.

The aim of this work was to quantify five commonly used pesticides (propoxur, carbaryl, carbendazim, thiabendazole and fuberidazole) in real samples as: tomato, orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemon and tangerine. The method used for the determination of these analytes in the complex matrices was high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. In order to work under isocratic conditions and to complete each run in less than 10 min, the analysis was carried out applying multivariate curve resolution coupled to alternating least-squares (MCR–ALS). The flexibility of this applied multivariate model allowed the prediction of the concentrations of the five analytes in complex samples including strongly coeluting analytes, elution time shifts, band shape changes and presence of uncalibrated interferents. The obtained limits of detection (in μg L−1) using the proposed methodology were 2.3 (carbendazim), 0.90 (thiabendazole), 12 (propoxur), 0.46 (fuberidazole) and 0.32 (carbaryl).

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