Determination of benzoylurea insecticides in apples and pears by solid-phase extraction cleanup and liquid chromatography with UV detection

Abstract

A liquid chromatographic (LC) method was developed and statistically validated for simultaneous determination of 5 benzoylurea insecticides (diflubenzuron, triflumuron, teflubenzuron, flufenoxuron, and lufenuron) in apples and pears. It involves preliminary extraction with ethyl acetate-sodium sulfate and cleanup on silica solid-phase extraction cartridges using dichloromethane-2-propanol (9 + 1) as eluant. The eluate is dried under nitrogen and redissolved in methanol. Benzoylurea insecticides are determined by reversed-phase LC with gradient elution at 42°C and UV diode array detection. Recoveries from samples fortified with the 5 insecticides at 0.02-0.5 mg/kg ranged from 83 to 102% for apples and from 75 to 99% for pears. Relative standard deviations were 0-12%. Limits of detection were 0.01 mg/kg for apples and 0.02 mg/kg for pears.