Dissipation and residue of flonicamid in cucumber, apple and soil under field conditions

Abstract

AbstractA method based on QuEChERS-like extraction and UPLC-ESI-MS/MS for the analysis of flonicamid was established. The samples were extracted by acetonitrile–methanol mixture and were purified using PSA. At fortification levels of 0.01, 0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg in cucumber, apple and soil, recoveries ranged from 71.5 to 106.0% with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.6–9.9%. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.003 mg/kg for cucumber, apple and soil. This study also investigates the dissipation of flonicamid in cucumber, apple and soil. The dissipation half-lives of flonicamid in cucumber, apple and soil were 3.0–4.9 days, 5.1–6.1 days and 10.3–14.2 days, respectively. The final residues of flonicamid ranged from 0.029 to 0.295 mg/kg in cucumbers, <0.01–0.174 mg/kg in apples and <0.01–0.172 mg/kg in soil, respectively. The observed low residual levels of flonicamid suggest that the cucumber and apple are safe when applied at the recommended dosage.Keywords: appledissipationcucumberfield treatmentflonicamidresiduesoil AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31272070) and Technology New Star Program of Beijing (2011099).