Determination of Dinotefuran in Pepper Using Liquid Chromatography: Contribution to Safety Evaluation

This paper presents a simple and sensitive method for detection and quantification of neonicotinoids (dinotefurans) in pepper. Extraction of pesticide was carried out with acetonitrile and water partition, and passed through cleanup. The residue levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) confirmation. The analytical method was very good within a wide range of concentrations with linearity (r(2)) of 1.00. The recovery at two fortification levels ranged between 91.2 to 97.5% with relative standard deviation less than 6.0%. The method was successfully applied for determination of the analyte in pepper grown under greenhouse conditions.