Abstract:

An analytical method was established for the simultaneous determination of 3 benzimidazole fungicide
(carbendazim, thiabendazole and fuberidazole) residues in grape juices by using high performance liquid chromatography
with fluorescence detector (HPLC-FLD) after quick easy cheap effective rugged safe (QuEChERS) cleanup. The fungicide
residues in grape juice samples were extracted into acetonitrile with the addition of anhydrous MgSO4 and NaCl. Then, the
samples were analyzed after the fungicide residues in the supernatant were purified with N-propyl ethylenediamine (PSA)
sorbent. The detection was performed with fluorescence detector under the corresponding optimal wavelengths according
to different retention times of the three compounds. Under the optimized analytical conditions including extraction salts,
purification reagent, mobile phase composition and chromatographic parameters, the recovery of the method for spiked
samples ranged from 85% to 115% with relative standard deviation (RSD) between 1.95% and 9.75%. Meanwhile, the limits
of detection (LODs) for carbendazim, thiabendazole and fuberidazole were 17.60, 1.20 and 0.06 μg/L, respectively. The
simple and accurate method is appropriate for the simultaneous analysis of the three benzimidazole fungicide residues in
grape juices with good repeatability.

Key words: grape juice, benzimidazole fungicides, quick easy cheap effective rugged safe (QuEChERS), high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector (HPLC-FLD)