Multi-pesticides residue analysis of grains using modified magnetic nanoparticle adsorbent for facile and efficient cleanup

- Magnetic Fe3O4-PSA and C18 were used as dispersive adsorbent for cleanup of grains.
- Magnetic separation clearly improved the operation efficiency of sample pretreatment.
- Influences of Fe3O4-PSA and C18 dosage on pesticide recoveries were optimized.
- Systemic method validation and comparison were performed to verify its feasibility.
- Advantages of operation and purification efficiency were over the traditional method.

A facile, rapid sample pretreatment method was developed based on magnetic nanoparticles for multi-pesticides residue analysis of grains. Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles modified with 3-(N,N-diethylamino)propyltrimethoxysilane (Fe3O4-PSA) and commercial C18 were selected as the cleanup adsorbents to remove the target interferences of the matrix, such as fatty acids and non-polar compounds. Rice was used as the representative grain sample for method optimization. The amount of Fe3O4-PSA and C18 were systematically investigated for selecting the suitable purification conditions, and the simultaneous determination of 50 pesticides and 8 related metabolites in rice was established by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Under the optimal conditions, the method validation was performed including linearity, sensitivity, matrix effect, recovery and precision, which all satisfy the requirement for pesticides residue analysis. Compared to the conventional QuEChERS method with non-magnetic material as cleanup adsorbent, the present method can save 30% of the pretreatment time, giving the high throughput analysis possible.