Sensitive and rapid determination of glyphosate, glufosinate, bialaphos and metabolites by UPLC-MS/MS using a modified Quick Polar Pesticides Extraction method

Phosphoric acid-containing amino acid pesticides, including glyphosate, glufosinate, and bialaphos, have been frequently encountered in human poisoning and suicidal cases, thus a quick and sensitive determination method for these compounds is very important. Herein we report a sensitive and rapid method for the determination of glyphosate, glufosinate, bialaphos and their metabolites, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) and 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid (MPPA) in human blood samples. The method involves extraction using a modified Quick Polar Pesticides Extraction (QuPPe) method, cleanup with the PRiME HLB sorbents and detection with ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The LODs were 0.02 mg/L for glyphosate, glufosinate and AMPA, 0.01 mg/L for bialaphos and MPPA, with the analysis time as short as ∼6 min. To the best of our knowledge, the LODs are lower and the analysis time is shorter than previous reports on determination of these compounds in blood and serum samples. The method was successfully applied to the detection and quantification of glyphosate and AMPA for blood samples from real forensic cases. This extremely rapid determination method with high sensitivity is of significant importance, particularly for forensic cases where quick determination is vital.