Comprehensive analytical strategy for biomonitoring of pesticides in urine by liquid chromatography–orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry

• An LC–HRMS analytical strategy was developed for pesticide biomonitoring in urine.
• The method was validated and optimized for the targeted analysis of 29 metabolites.
• The screening post-run analysis allowed the identification of other contaminants.
• The comprehensive analytical strategy is a promising tool for biomonitoring studies.

In this study we propose an analytical strategy that combines a target approach for the quantitative analysis of contemporary pesticide metabolites with a comprehensive post-target screening for the identification of biomarkers of exposure to environmental contaminants in urine using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC–HRMS). The quantitative method for the target analysis of 29 urinary metabolites of organophosphate (OP) insecticides, synthetic pyrethroids, herbicides and fungicides was validated after a previous statistical optimization of the main factors governing the ion source ionization and a fragmentation study using the high energy collision dissociation (HCD) cell. The full scan accurate mass data were acquired with a resolving power of 50,000 FWHM (scan speed, 2 Hz), in both ESI+ and ESI− modes, and with and without HCD-fragmentation. The method – LOQ was lower than 3.2 μg L−1 for the majority of the analytes. For post-target screening a customized theoretical database was built, for the identification of 60 metabolites including pesticides, PAHs, phenols, and other metabolites of environmental pollutants. For identification purposes, accurate exact mass with less than 5 ppm, and diagnostic ions including isotopes and/or fragments were used. The analytical strategy was applied to 20 urine sample collected from children living in Valencia Region. Eleven target metabolites were detected with concentrations ranging from 1.18 to 131 μg L−1. Likewise, several compounds were tentatively identified in the post-target analysis belonging to the families of phthalates, phenols and parabenes. The proposed strategy is suitable for the determination of target pesticide biomarkers in urine in the framework of biomonitoring studies, and appropriate for the identification of other non-target metabolites.