Illustrating the enantioselective behaviors of the novel
chiral
fungicide penflufen was extremely important for ecological safety
and human health. For penflufen enantiomers, an excellent separation
method including a short analysis time (4 min), a high sensitivity
(2 ng/g), and lesser consumption of an organic solvent was first established
through supercritical fluid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry.
The enantioseparation mechanism was explained by computational chemistry,
and the stronger binding ability of S-(+)-penflufen
with cellulose tris-(3-chloro-4-methylphenylcarbamate) (the chiral
stationary phase OZ-3 column) contributed to the posterior elution.
In legume vegetables, penflufen dissipation was the fastest in Pisum sativum Linn plants (half-life, 1 day) and
the slowest in Glycine max plants (half-lives,
11.3–12.9 days). After 30, 50, and 40 days, the rac-penflufen residues were lower than the maximum residue level value
in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (10 ng/g) in G. max, P. sativum Linn, and Vigna unguiculata, respectively.
Abundant S-(+)-penflufen was found in these plants
with stereoisomeric excess (se) changes being >10% in the initial
stage, so the risk assessment might be driven by S-(+)-penflufen. However, the se changes were <10% in V. unguiculata plants, and the risk assessment might
be calculated based on rac-penflufen. Moreover, penflufen
enantiomers could be transferred from legume vegetables to soils,
and the concentrations increased with time. The high persistence and
medium mobility of penflufen in soils might lead to potential groundwater
contamination, which was noteworthy. These results could contribute
to a more accurate risk assessment of penflufen in legume vegetables.