Application of Liquid Chromatography‐Time‐of‐Flight‐Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Urea Herbicides Residues in Soybean

Abstract

Abstract In this work, a new multiresidue methodology using liquid chromatography‐time‐of‐flight‐mass spectrometry (LC‐TOF‐MS) for the quantitative analysis of pesticide residues has been developed. The accurate mass was obtained in different levels (from 0.02 to 0.10 mg · kg−1) and accuracy errors was lower than 3 ppm, which is well within the accepted limits for target confirmation. Linearity of response ranged from 0.01 mg · kg−1 to 1 mg · kg−1. The average recoveries of nine urea herbicides in spiked soybean ranged from 70.16% to 114.41%, and the relative standard deviations (RSD) were between 2.22% and 11.12%. Limits of detection (LOD) were between 0.00003 and 0.009 mg · kg−1. The results indicated that the method developed was easier, faster, and more sensitive. It also demonstrated that this method could meet the requirements for simultaneous determination of urea herbicides in soybean. This study provides valuable evidence for that LC‐TOF‐MS method has the potential in screening multi‐residue pesticides in soybean.