Pesticides Residues Rapid Extraction from Panax Ginseng Using a Modified QuEChERS Method for GC–MS

A modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) rapid detection method followed by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS) has been developed for the simultaneous determination of 42 pesticides in Panax ginseng. This method can be different from the other QuEChERS methods in the sense that it uses acetone and n-hexane solution rather than acetonitrile to extract and partition pesticides. This acetone, water and n-hexane solution QuEChERS method consists essentially of two steps: extraction/partitioning and purification. In step 1, P. ginseng was mixed with acetone, water and n-hexane solution, and then partitioned by vortex. In step 2, the top layer (n-hexane) was transferred into a centrifuge tube containing primary secondary amine, activated carbon and C18 for purification. After the centrifuge supernatant was injected into GC–MS. The QuEChERS method was applied in P. ginseng detection and we confirmed that this method can easily extract various types of pesticides from P. ginseng. The rates of recovery for pesticides studied were satisfactory, ranging from 75.3 to 119.4 % for most of the pesticides with a relative standard deviation of less than 13 %. The LOQs ranged between 0.5 and 1.2 µg kg−1. The modified QuEChERS method and GC–MS could enable complex pretreatment in P. ginseng analysis quickly and easily.