Determination of Butroxydim in Agricultural Products by LC-MS

Abstract

An analytical method for the determination of butroxydim in agricultural products by LC-MS was developed. Butroxydim was extracted with acetonitrile and an aliquot of the crude extract was cleaned up on an octadecyl silanized silica gel (C18) cartridge column (1,000 mg), followed by a salting-out step to remove water. Before purification on a silica gel (SI) cartridge column (690 mg), polar matrices were precipitated by adding ethyl acetate, n-hexane and anhydrous sodium sulfate successively. This process effectively removed caffeine and catechins and improved recovery when analyzing residual butroxydim in tea leaves. Recovery and repeatability were good; the relative standard deviations were less than 5% for all 12 tested agricultural products (brown rice, soybean, potato, spinach, cabbage, apple, orange, grapefruit, lemon, tomato, peas with pods, and tea). Average recoveries for 11 agricultural products, except for lemon, were 74-92%.