Trace analysis of pesticides in paddy field water by direct injection using liquid chromatography–quadrupole-linear ion trap-mass spectrometry

A multiresidue method was developed for the quantification and confirmation of 70 pesticides in paddy field water. After its filtration, water was injected directly in a liquid chromatograph coupled to a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap-mass spectrometer (QqLIT). The list of target analytes included organophosphates, phenylureas, sulfonylureas, carbamates, conazoles, imidazolinones and others compounds widely used in different countries where rice is cropped. Detection and quantification limits achieved were in the range from 0.4 to 80 ng L−1 and from 2 to 150 ng L−1, respectively. Correlation coefficients for the calibration curves in the range 0.1–50 μg L−1 were higher than 0.99 except for diazinon (0.1–25 μg L−1). Only 9 pesticides presented more than 20% of signal suppression/enhancement, no matrix effect was observed in the studied conditions for the rest of the target pesticides. The method developed was used to investigate the occurrence of pesticides in 59 water samples collected in paddy fields located in Spain and Uruguay. The study shows the presence of bensulfuron methyl, tricyclazole, carbendazim, imidacloprid, tebuconazole and quinclorac in a concentration range from 0.08 to7.20 μg L−1.