Gas chromatography with flame photometric detection of 31 organophosphorus pesticide residues in Alpinia oxyphylla dried fruits

•Thirty-one organophosphorus pesticides residues in Alpinia oxyphylla were determined.•Sample preparation was completed in a single step without any clean-up procedure.•The proposed method was successfully applied to 55 commercial samples.•Seven organophosphorus pesticides were detected in eight of the samples.•The positive samples were further confirmed by GC–MS/MS.

A simple, rapid and effective gas chromatography–flame photometric detection method was established for simultaneous multi-component determination of 31 organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) residues in Alpinia oxyphylla, which is widely consumed as a traditional medicine and food in China. Sample preparation was completed in a single step without any clean-up procedure. All pesticides expressed good linear relationships between 0.004 and 1.0 μg/mL with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9973. The method gave satisfactory recoveries for most pesticides. The limits of detection varied from 1 to 10 ng/mL, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were between 4 and 30 ng/mL. The proposed method was successfully applied to 55 commercial samples purchased from five different areas. Five pesticide residues were detected in four (7.27%) samples. The positive samples were confirmed by gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS).