Abstract:

High performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was applied to the rapid
determination of residual amounts of forchlorfenuron in vegetables and fruits. The samples were extracted with acetonitrile
while stirring, purified with the adsorbents Florisil and anhydrous magnesium sulfate, and filtered through 0.22 μm millipore
membrane. The filtrate was separated on a C18 column using gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic
acid and acetonitrile, detected by electrospray ionization (ESI) in the positive mode using multiple reaction monitoring
(MRM), and quantified by an external standard method. The developed method showed a good linear relationship in the
range of 0.5–40 μg/L for forchlorfenuron, with a correlation coefficient higher than 0.999. The limit of quantitation (LOQ)
for forchlorfenuron was 1.0 μg/kg. The average recovery rates were 85.9%–97.9% at spiked levels of 1.0, 5.0, and 20 μg/kg,
with relative standard deviation (RSD, n = 6) ranging from 2.8% to 8.7%. This method is fast, highly sensitivity, repeatable
and suitable for the determination of forchlorfenuron residues in vegetables and fruits.

Key words: vegetables, fruits, forchlorfenuron, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry