LCGC Europe-11-01-2009

The high-throughput analysis of pesticides in raw agricultural commodities has been hindered by the slow and laborious sample preparation stages. Using traditional clean-up procedures, as many as 20 steps are required to get the sample in a convenient form for analysis, which typically limits sample throughput to eight samples per day. This study evaluates a new approach using a novel laboratory mill and pulverizer to extract various pesticide residues from different kinds of plant materials and to identify and quantify the active ingredients by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS). It shows that by automating the procedure, the number of clean-up steps can be reduced significantly, which increases sample throughput over traditional approaches.

"In retrospect, we sometimes see the successful return of an earlier idea on the back of great advances in technology."

Where to place the blame when something goes wrong.