Abstract:

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for determining plant hormone residues in vegetables and fruits was established. Sample preparation was accomplished after extraction with 80% methanol and clean-up on a C18 column prior to analysis using a HPLC system equipped with a UV detector and subsequent quantification by external standard method. The average spike recoveries for 10 species of vegetables or fruits such as tomato, cucumber, capsicum, etc were between 70.23% and 98.10%, with a variation coefficient ranging from 3.34% to 10.12%. The limit of detection of this method was between 0.004 mg/kg and 0.02 mg/kg, and the limit of quantification between 0.01 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg. This method meets the national requirements for pesticide determination and is applicable to food quality supervision and control.

Key words: high liquid chromatography, fruits and vegetables, plant hormone