Determination of acaricides in honey by solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography / mass spectrometry

An analytical method based on solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography / mass spectrometry has been developed for measurement of acaricides (amitraz, bromopropylate, coumaphos, cymiazole, and tetradifon) in honey sample. In the stability test of acaricides in honey, amitraz underwent a rapid degradation into 2,4-dimethylaniline (DMA), 2,4-dimethylphenylformamide (DMPF), and N-(2,4-dimethylphenyl)-N'-methylformamidine (DMPMF), whileas other acaricides were found to be stable even for over three months. Extraction of five acaricides from 5g of honey sample was carried out by liquid-liquid extraction using 20mL of ethylacetate. For purification, Florisil-SPE cartridge with elution of 5mL of n-hexane/ acetone (55:45, v/v) was found to remove interferences effectively. Quantification was performed using gas chromatography / mass spectrometry in the selected ion monitoring mode. Spiking experiments were carried out to determine the recovery, precision, and limits of detection (LODs) of the method. The overall recovery values from honey spiked at 0.02 and 0.20 μg/g levels, respectively, were found to be greater than 75% for all acaricides. The method detection limits for acaricides were ranged from 0.1 to 3 ppb. The developed method in this study was applied for the monitoring of acaricides in honey products collected from urban markets in Korea.