Abstract

The use of pesticides in agricultural products is quite popular although they are potentially harmful to human health. Fast and reliable analytical methods are needed in order to qualify and quantify compounds. LCMS technology applying Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) delivers highly sensitive results. The outstanding speed of Shimadzu´s LCMS- 8040 makes it possible to analyse hundreds of pesticides in a single run using a generic method.

The demand for improvement of analytical methods is continuously challenging. Not only is high quality data required, but time and labour-saving methods are also desired. Liquid chromatography coupled mass spectrometry (LCMS) is a popular method-of-choice meeting these needs.
An LCMS instrument typically consists of a high performance liquid chromatography system (HPLC) coupled to a mass spectrometer (MS). After automatic injection by an autosampler, the samples are chromatographically separated on a column and further analysed by the MS.
Due to their capability of Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) MS instruments using triple quadrupole technology have shown themselves to be highly suited to many applications in the food and agriculture sector. Selected analytes are isolated in the first quadrupole (SIM mode) and fragmented in the second quadrupole (collision cell). These specific fragments are then isolated in the third quadrupole (SIM mode). This set-up allows not only highly ...