Determination of spinosad in vegetables and fruits by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV and mass spectrometric detection after gel permeation chromatography and solid-phase extraction cleanup on a 2-layered column.

A simple and reliable method was developed for the determination of spinosyns A and D, the active ingredients of spinosad, in vegetables and fruits, by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (HPLC-UV) and confirmation by mass spectrometry (MS); the method uses selected gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and a 2-layered column for solid-phase extraction system. An aliquot of the crude sample extract obtained by acetonitrile extraction is loaded into the GPC system. The fraction containing spinosyns A and D is selectively collected and loaded directly onto a 2-layered column consisting of graphitized carbon (upper layer) and cyclohexyl-bonded silica gel (lower layer). After the column is washed with the GPC mobile phase acetone-cyclohexane (3 + 7), the column is eluted with acetonitrile containing 2% triethylamine. The eluate is used for HPLC-UV/MS analysis. Average recoveries from fortified cabbage, green perilla, fig, and strawberry at analyte concentrations of 0.05 and 0.25 microg/g were >85%, and the relative standard deviations were <9%. The detection limits for spinosyns A and D in green perilla were 0.005 microg/g by UV detection and 0.001 microg/g by MS detection.