Multi-residue method

Kasprzyk-Hordern B, Dlnsdale RM, Guwy AJ (2007) Multi-residue method for the determination of basic/neutral pharmaceuticals and illicit dmgs in surface water by solid-phase extraction and ultra performance liquid chromatography-positive electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 1161 132-145... 

As far as is practicable, the methods proposed must employ the simplest approach and commonly available equipment. If possible, standard multi-residue methods should be used. Descriptions of methods must be provided, including all necessary details. 

Figure 1 Development/vaUdation approach for multi-residue methods (hterature references in brackets)...

Owing to the complexity of multi-residue methods for products of animal origin, it is not possible to outline a simple scheme however, readers should refer to methods described in two references for detailed guidance (Analytical Methods for Pesticides in Foodstuffs, Dutch method collection and European Norm EN 1528. ) There is no multi-method specifically designed for body fluids and tissues. The latter matrix can be partly covered by methods for products of animal origin. However, an approach published by Frenzel et al may be helpful (method principle whole blood is hemolyzed and then deproteinized. After extraction of the supernatant, the a.i. is determined by GC/MS. The LOQ is in the range 30-200 ag depending on the a.i.). 

Moreover, new technologies such as LC/MS/MS should be considered and their potential should be recognized in the future. Currently food control laboratories monitor only a part of the pesticides used in their routine work. They prefer active ingredients that can be analyzed by multi-methods or some group-specific methods, because resources to check all relevant pesticides are normally not available. Therefore, many a.i. are monitored only on a case-by-case basis or not at all. An LC/MS multi-residue method, which may be developed in the future, could cover this gap to a large extent. 

The multi-residue method DFG was intended to be used in state enforcement laboratories or in private contract or food industry laboratories. It was aimed initially only at plant materials and water and included a relatively large number of pesticides which are amenable to GC. 

The scope of the multi-residue method is extended permanently by testing and then including further active substances that can be determined by GC. Acidic analytes (such as phenoxyacetic acids or RCOOH metabolites) are included into the homogeneous partitioning by acidifying the raw extracts to a pH below the pKs value of the carboxylic acids. To include these analytes in the GC determination scheme they have to be derivatized with diazomethane, diazoethane, trimethylsilyldiazomethane, acidic esterification or benzylation, or by silanizing the COOH moiety. 

Once several target methods employing, e.g., LC/MS/MS techniques have been combined, a multi-residue method will evolve which includes the DEC S19 extraction procedures in combination with the generally applicable GPC cleanup and requires automatic multiple injections to circumvent the limitations of the limited HPLC peak capacity and the target-specific MS/MS methods. 

Non-NADA methods may be designed to detect multiple residues and they may be designed for use in multiple species. In order to validate these multi-residue methods, modifications to the validation protocol relative to single analyte methods are made. Additional laboratories will participate in the method trial, but the number of samples... 

The Guidance Document on Residue Analytical Methods requests the applicant to assess a standard multi-residue method by using standard steps. These steps are extraction with acetone or ethyl acetate, cleanup by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and/or silica gel chromatography and final determination by GC. 

The elements of the multi-residue method should be used as needed. There is no requirement, for example, to test the full version of the German method DEG 19 without any deviation. This full method combines GPC and silica gel cleanup. A poor recovery of compounds from the silica gel is not a reason to reject the multiresidue approach, provided that the chromatograms of GPC eluates are free from interference. 

The enforcement methods provided by the applicants give basic information about appropriate cleanup steps and specific determination procedures. Typically, direct use of this developmental work occurred when a GC multi-residue method was found appropriate. Owing to the recent developments in the field of MS/MS with atmospheric pressure ionization, an alternative approach for those compounds that can be analyzed by liquid chromatography (LC) will soon be possible. It is important that some fundamental considerations for such method(s) should be agreed at the outset. Considerations include the most suitable extraction solvents and cleanup steps and some standard HPLC conditions. 

Both multi-residue methods are presented in several parts, which separate general considerations from procedures for extraction, cleanup and determination/ confirmation. Whereas in EN 12393 several extraction and cleanup steps cannot be combined arbitrarily, the modular concept is utilized to a greater extent in EN 1528. In the latter standard, there is no limitation to the combination of several extraction procedures, mostly designed for different commodities, e.g., milk, butter, cheese, meat or fish, with different cleanup steps. Both standards, EN 1528 and EN 12393, do not specify fixed GC conditions for the determination and confirmation. All types of GC instruments and columns, temperature programs and detectors can be used, if suitable. 

The other two CEN standards, for the determination of dithiocarbamate/thiuram disulfide residues and for the quantitation of bromide, are also separated into parts, but, in contrast to the multi-residue methods, complete methods are presented in each different part. Owing to this different approach and the reduced number of analytes, it was possible to validate these methods fully. 

CEN requirements for widely accepted multi-matrix/multi-residue methods... 

For multi-analyte and/or multi-matrix methods, it is not possible to validate a method for all combinations of analyte, concentration and type of sample matrix that may be encountered in subsequent use of the method. On the other hand, the standards EN1528 andEN 12393 consist of a range of old multi-residue methods. The working principles of these methods are accepted not only in Europe, but all over the world. Most often these methods are based on extractions with acetone, acetonitrile, ethyl acetate or n-hexane. Subsequent cleanup steps are based on solvent partition steps and size exclusion or adsorption chromatography on Florisil, silica gel or alumina. Each solvent and each cleanup step has been successfully applied to hundreds of pesticides and tested in countless method validation studies. The selectivity and sensitivity of GC combined with electron capture, nitrogen-phosphorus, flame photometric or mass spectrometric detectors for a large number of pesticides are acceptable. 

Many experts in Europe have tested the methods of both standards with various pesticide-matrix combinations in their own laboratories. Consequently, the responsible working groups of CEN TC 275 concluded that these are the best methods available. Nevertheless, there is no complete validation of all possible pesticide-matrix combinations. However, for most multi-residue methods within the standards all those pesticides which had been successfully tested in method validation trials and/or proficiency tests are listed. Also, matrices which had been examined in ring tests are listed. 

Each individual method collection comprises a large number of methods, which often have different validation statuses. For instance, the most important Swedish multi-residue method (based on ethyl acetate extraction, GPC and GC) is validated for many pesticides by four laboratories, but other methods are presented with singlelaboratory validation data. Some methods in the Dutch and German manuals were tested in inter-laboratory method validation studies, but others by an independent laboratory or in a single laboratory only. 

To reduce the effort, another validation procedure is used for extension of the German multi-residue method to a new analyte. Actually, more than 200 pesticides can be analyzed officially with this method, which is the up-to-date version of the better known method DFG SI9. A typical validation is performed by at least three laboratories, which conduct fortification experiments at the same three levels with at least four representative matrices. These representative matrices are commodities with high water content (e.g., tomato), fruits with high acid content (e.g., lemon), dry crops (e.g., cereals) and commodities with high fat content (e.g., avocado). 

If analytical methods are validated in inter-laboratory validation studies, documentation should follow the requirements of the harmonized protocol of lUPAC. " However, multi-matrix/multi-residue methods are applicable to hundreds of pesticides in dozens of commodities and have to be validated at several concentration levels. Any complete documentation of validation results is impossible in that case. Some performance characteristics, e.g., the specificity of analyte detection, an appropriate calibration range and sufficient detection sensitivity, are prerequisites for the determination of acceptable trueness and precision and their publication is less important. The LOD and LOQ depend on special instmmentation, analysts involved, time, batches of chemicals, etc., and cannot easily be reproduced. Therefore, these characteristics are less important. A practical, frequently applied alternative is the publication only of trueness (most often in terms of recovery) and precision for each analyte at each level. No consensus seems to exist as to whether these analyte-parameter sets should be documented, e.g., separately for each commodity or accumulated for all experiments done with the same analyte. In the latter case, the applicability of methods with regard to commodities can be documented in separate tables without performance characteristics. 

Obviously, a best or generally accepted documentation of performance data of validated multi-residue methods does not exist. Too many data are collected and then-detailed presentation may be confusing and impractical. Additionally, the validation of multi-residue methods is a continuous on-going process which started for many pesticides 20 years ago, when less comprehensive method requirements had to be fulfilled. For this reason, a complete and homogeneous documentation of method validation data cannot be achieved. 

S.L. Reynolds, R. Fussel, M. Caldow, R. James, S. Nawaz, C. Ebden, D. Pendhngton, T. Stijve, and H. Desirens, Intercomparison Study of Two Multi-residue Methods for the Enforcement of EU MRLs for Pesticides in Fruit, Vegetables and Grain, European Commission, BCR Information, Chemical Analysis Contract No. SMT4-CT-95-2030 Reports EUR 17870EN (1997), EUR 18639 EN (1998), EUR 19306 EN (2000) and EUR 19443 EN, European Commission, Brussels (2001). 

Analytical methods for representative anilides are reported in this article. In addition, they are also applicable as multi-residue methods. 

A multi-residue method based on SPE cleanup and gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry (GC/ITMS) was developed for the determination of 120 pesticides and related metabolites in two soils with organic matter contents of 4.0-5.2%. 

A multi-residue method for 25 selected pesticides including propanil using an SPE disk has also been developed as a rapid screening method for organic contaminants in river, lake and seawater samples. Cig SPE disks are conditioned with 10 mL of acetone for 3 h. Water samples (1L) are allowed to percolate through the disks in order to trap the residues at a fiow rate of 50 mL min under vacuum. Residues trapped in the disks are extracted twice by eluting with 5 mL of dichloromethane-ethyl acetate (1 1, v/v). The more hydrophobic compounds (log/fow>3) seem to show no... 

Crescenzi et al. developed a multi-residue method for pesticides including propanil in drinking water, river water and groundwater based on SPE and LC/MS detection. The recoveries of the pesticides by this method were >80%. Santos etal. developed an on-line SPE method followed by LC/PAD and LC/MS detection in a simultaneous method for anilides and two degradation products (4-chloro-2-methylphenol and 2,4-dichlorophenol) of acidic herbicides in estuarine water samples. To determine the major degradation product of propanil, 3,4-dichloroaniline, the positive ion mode is needed for atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (APCI/MS) detection. The LOD of 3,4-dichloroaniline by APCI/MS was 0.1-0.02 ng mL for 50-mL water samples. 

Analytical methods for parent chloroacetanilide herbicides in soil typically involve extraction of the soil with solvent, followed by solid-phase extraction (SPE), and analysis by gas chromatography/electron capture detection (GC/ECD) or gas chromatog-raphy/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Analytical methods for parent chloroacetanilides in water are similarly based on extraction followed by GC with various detection techniques. Many of the water methods, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official methods, are multi-residue methods that include other compound classes in addition to chloroacetanilides. While liquid-liquid partitioning was used initially to extract acetanilides from water samples, SPE using... 

Two multi-residue methods are described. These methods have been used to determine concentrations of either parent herbicides or their metabolites in thousands of surface water and groundwater samples collected over the years 1995-2001 in corn-growing areas of the United States. " ... 

Environmental monitoring of chloroacetanilides requires methods that have the capability to distinguish between complex arrays of related residues. The two example methods detailed here for water monitoring meet this requirement, but the method for metabolites requires sophisticated mass spectral equipment for the detection of directly injected water samples. In the near term, some laboratories may need to modify this method by incorporation of an extraction/concentration step, such as SPE, that would allow for concentration of the sample, so that a less sensitive and, correspondingly, less expensive, mass spectral detector can be used. However, laboratories may want to consider purchasing a sensitive instrument rather than spending time on additional wet chemistry procedures. In the future, sensitive instrumentation may be less expensive and available to all laboratories. Work is under way to expand the existing multi-residue methods to include determination of additional chloroacetanilides and their metabolites in both water and soil samples. 

Specifically for triazines in water, multi-residue methods incorporating SPE and LC/MS/MS will soon be available that are capable of measuring numerous parent compounds and all their relevant degradates (including the hydroxytriazines) in one analysis. Continued increases in liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/API-MS/MS) sensitivity will lead to methods requiring no aqueous sample preparation at all, and portions of water samples will be injected directly into the LC column. The use of SPE and GC or LC coupled with MS and MS/MS systems will also be applied routinely to the analysis of more complex sample matrices such as soil and crop and animal tissues. However, the analyte(s) must first be removed from the sample matrix, and additional research is needed to develop more efficient extraction procedures. Increased selectivity during extraction also simplifies the sample purification requirements prior to injection. Certainly, miniaturization of all aspects of the analysis (sample extraction, purification, and instrumentation) will continue, and some of this may involve SEE, subcritical and microwave extraction, sonication, others or even combinations of these techniques for the initial isolation of the analyte(s) from the bulk of the sample matrix. 

Figure 3 Structures of phenethanolamine /3-adrenergic agonists of potential human food safety concern. Multi-residue methods have been developed with the goal of broad cross-reactivity so that simultaneous screening may occur efforts have not been particularly successful...

Most modern methods of analysis to determine pesticide residues in food commodities, whether a multi-residue method (MRM) or a single-residue method (SRM), can be broken down into three or four basic steps sample processing, sample extraction, extract cleanup (optional) and instrumental determination. 

General Inspectorate for Health Protection, Multi-residue Method 5, Part 1, 1, General Inspectorate for Health Protection, The Hague (1996). 

Multi-residue methods (S19) to measure azole fungicides in crop samples... 

The analysis of azole compounds is becoming increasingly important. For the regulation of their residues, the multi-method Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) S19 is used throughout Europe. Within the last few years, this method has been validated for many new azole fungicides in various crop matrices. The multi-residue method and the most important procedural details for the detection and determination of azole compounds are described below. Some important properties are shown in Table 1. 

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