Fast Gas Chromatography and Its Use in Pesticide Residues Analysis

Pesticides have been worldwide used for the protection of food crops against pests and diseases. It is common that residues of these pesticides occur in food products, especially agricultural commodities. Adverse effects on human health of pesticides residues remaining in food after they are applied to food crops are generally known. Possible health risk due to pesticide residues in the diet has deeply modified the strategy for the crop protection, with emphasis on food quality and safety. The widespread concern for the health of society led to the strict regulation of maximum residue limits (MRLs) of pesticide residues in food commodities. There are various organizations that set maximum residue limits (MRLs), such as European Commission (EC), Codex Alimentarius or national governments in Australia, Canada, Japan, USA, etc. Individual limits for different active substance per food commodity combinations are being set by EC within the range of 0.0008-50 mg.kg -1 (Directive 91/414/EEC). Newly discovered ecotoxicological problems, particularly the knowledge on endocrine disrupting effects Analysis close to these levels corresponds to the ultratrace analysis. This calls for urgent attention in two areas: (a) legislative requirements continuously decreasing the maximum acceptable concentration levels in food, and (b) the apparent importance of methods development in the area of pesticide residues analysis. The urgent requirement for low-level analyses promotes also contribution to the science -in the field of separation methods for ultra-trace analysis of organic pollutants in complex mixtures. The method development heads to speeding up the analysis (what leads to reduction of financial demands) while preserving the efficiency of conventional approaches or getting even better efficiency. In pesticide residues analysis additionally there is ever increasing interest to analyse as many analytes as possible in a single analysis. In the case of semivolatile pesticide residues analysis gas chromatography (GC) still plays an important role. Scientifically valid methods for the analysis at low concentration levels are currently still often very close to limits of detections (LODs). The most efficient approach to pesticide analysis involves the use of multiclass, multiresidue methods (MRMs). The sample preparation procedure should be taken into consideration together with the chromatographic analysis and detection in many aspects, mainly in limit of quantifications (LOQs) and selectivity. In multiresidue pesticides analysis used for an inspection of the www.intechopen.com Pesticides -Strategies for Pesticides Analysis 132 presence and/or violation of MRLs in a great number of pesticide residues, usually several chromatographic runs are necessary for qualitative and quantitative analyses. Positive samples exceeding the MRLs value require a subsequent confirmation. Nowadays, the use of mass spectrometry as universal detection method that has identification capability with mass spectral information and high selectivity with extracted ion trace or selected ion monitoring seems to become indispensable for identification purposes. Gas chromatography -mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with electron ionization (EI) and the combination of liquid chromatography (LC) with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using electrospray ionization (ESI) are identified as techniques most often applied in multiresidue methods for pesticides at present For GC-amenable semivolatile pesticides GC methods are still preferred over LC (liquid chromatography) methods due to higher resolution. After a major advance of recent years in ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS), which have been demonstrated to reliably quantify and identify hundreds of pesticides in less than 10 min Especially fast GC techniques satisfy the present-day demands on faster and cost-effective analysis Analysis time and the cost are the most important aspects that should be considered in the choice of analytical method in routine application. This contribution is devoted to the fast gas chromatography in pesticide residues analysis. Classification according to the GC speeding-up strategies is mentioned and the main part of the chapter is devoted to the fast GC in the analysis of pesticide residues with the use of narrow-bore columns (internal diameter I.D. <0.2 mm). Specificity of pesticide residues analysis as well as problems associated with analysis of pesticides in general are discussed. Sample preparation mainly from the point of view of time requirements and feasibility for fast GC is briefly outlined. Special attention to the selectivity enhancement by the negative chemical ionization approach is devoted. Applicability of fast GC for pesticide residues in real-life samples is demonstrated.

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