HPLC-UV and HPLC-MSn multiresidue determination of amidosulfuron, azimsulfuron, nicosulfuron, rimsulfuron, thifensulfuron methyl, tribenuron methyl and azoxystrobin in surface waters

The paper presents a new HPLC method, with UV and MSn detection, for the determination of seven pesticides, including the sulfonylurea herbicides amidosulfuron, azimsulfuron, nicosulfuron, rimsulfuron, thifensulfuron methyl, tribenuron methyl, and the fungicide azoxystrobin characterised by a methoxyacrilate structure. The methodology consists of a preconcentration/SPE (solid phase extraction) step and HPLC-UV (240 nm detection wavelength)-MSn analysis. Under the optimised conditions and after a 1000/1 preconcentration factor, the limits of detection were lower than 14.5 ng L−1 for UV detection and lower than 8.1 ng L−1 for MS detection. The limits of quantification were lower than 48.3 ng L−1 in UV detection and than 26.9 ng L−1 in MSn detection. The analysis of two samples, spiked with a mixture of the pesticides at threshold level concentrations, gave more than 60% recovery.