Simultaneous determination of seven carbamate pesticide residues in gram, wheat, lentil, soybean, fenugreek leaves and apple matrices

The liquid chromatography method for simultaneous determination of seven carbamate pesticides, viz. aldicarb, benomyl, carbofuran, ethiofencarb, methomyl, thiophanate ethyl and thiophanate methyl has been described. The method employed a Zorbax Eclipsed XGB C-8, column and 30:70 acetonitrile–water mixture (v/v) as mobile phase with UV detection at 235 nm. Good separation of all these carbamates was achieved at 1 mL/min flow rate of the mobile phase at 25 °C. Their recovery from food grains fenugreek leaves and apples was found to be > 80%. The commercial grade carbamate formulations containing benomyl, carbofuran, methomyl and thiophanate methyl were also analyzed and residue levels of these commercial formulations on selected food matrices were analyzed for comparison. The method had good peak resolution, high precision, low limit of detection and high degree of reproducibility. It could be applied for rapid screening and quantization of these carbamates in real sample matrices sold in the local markets.

► Used reverse phase HPLC with C8 column, acetonitrile-water mobile phase and UV detection at 235 nm. ► Applied in simultaneous quantitative determination of seven carbamate pesticides in food matrices. ► Also used for quantitation of carbamates in four commercial formulations. ► Food matrices analyzed were gram, wheat, lentil, soybean, fenugreek leaves and apple. ► Facilitated screening of aldicarb, benomyl, carbofuran, ethiofencarb, methomyl, thiophanate methyl and thiophanate ethyl.