Simultaneous Determination of Plant Growth Regulators in Fruit by Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Coupled with Modified QuEChERS Procedure

A multi-residue method was developed for the rapid and simultaneous determination of five PGRs (uniconazole, 6-BA, 6-KT, 4-CPA and DA-6) in fruit by a modified QuEChERS procedure and UPLC-MS/MS analysis. The QuEChERS procedure was successfully optimized and results revealed that acetonitrile with 1% acetic acid and ODS: MgSO4 (1:3, w/w) were appropriate for extraction and clean-up, respectively. The method was reliable as evidenced by the performance data (linearity, LODs, LOQs, recoveries and precision) which were suitable for the analysis of real samples.