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Analysis of Organochlorine Pesticides in Tomatoes Using a Modified QuEChERS Method Based on N-Doped Graphitized Carbon Coupled with GC-MS/MS

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Abstract

A modified QuEChERS protocol with a nitrogen-doped graphitized carbon derived from dicyandiamide sludge as a cleanup sorbent has been developed to determine 20 organochlorine pesticides in tomatoes using gas chromatography coupled to a triple-quadrupole mass analyzer. Compared with traditional QuEChERS adsorbents, N-doped graphitized carbon exhibited higher recoveries toward the target pesticides in tomatoes. And the modified protocol exhibited the advantages of environmental-friendly and low-cost. The use of dicyandiamide sludge to produce NGB as an adsorbent for QuEChERS opened up a new field for the comprehensive utilization of dicyandiamide waste. Under the optimum conditions, the modified method provided excellent linearity with correlation coefficient higher than 0.9980 and low limits of detection ranging from 0.001 to 0.1 μg/kg. The mean recoveries of the majority of pesticides in tomatoes ranged from 71.2 to 95.3% with relative standard deviation lower than 20%. Thus, the proposed protocol could be considered a good alternative for traditional QuEChERS method for pesticide analysis in agricultural vegetables.

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Acknowledgments

The authors also acknowledge the contributions of Maiqi Chen to our works of partial data analysis and processing.

Funding

This study was financially supported by Zhejiang Province Public Welfare Technology Application Research Project (2017C37008, 2017C33014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, 18 Chaowang Rd, Hangzhou, 310014, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Xuemin Ye, Xiaoji Cao & Weimin Mo

  2. Research Center of Analysis and Measurement, Zhejiang University of Technology, 18 Chaowang Rd, Hangzhou, 310014, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Xuemin Ye, Hua Shao, Ting Zhou, Jiahui Xu, Xiaoji Cao & Weimin Mo

Authors
  1. Xuemin Ye
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  2. Hua Shao
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  3. Ting Zhou
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  4. Jiahui Xu
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  5. Xiaoji Cao
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Correspondence to Weimin Mo.

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Conflict of Interest

Xuemin Ye declares that she has no conflict of interest. Hua Shao declares that he has no conflict of interest. Ting Zhou declares that she has no conflict of interest. Jiahui Xu declares that he has no conflict of interest. Xiaoji Cao declares that she has no conflict of interest. Weimin Mo declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Ye, X., Shao, H., Zhou, T. et al. Analysis of Organochlorine Pesticides in Tomatoes Using a Modified QuEChERS Method Based on N-Doped Graphitized Carbon Coupled with GC-MS/MS. Food Anal. Methods 13, 823–832 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-019-01674-6

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