Analysis of organochlorine pesticides and pyrethroid pesticides in vegetables by gas chromatography-electron capture detection coupled with solid-phase extraction using multiwalled carbon nanotubes as adsorbent

A multi-residue analytical method based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as adsorbent was developed. The determination of 6 organochlorine pesticides and 7 pyrethroid pesticides in vegetables (including cucumber, cherry tomato, cabbage, lettuce, purple cabbage, leek, shallot and onion) was carried out by gas chromatography-electron capture detection (GC-ECD). The GC-ECD method used two columns (HP-50 and HP-1) and two ECD detectors. The HP-50 column was used for the analysis and the HP-1 column for validation. The clean-up conditions were optimized. The analytes were extracted by acetonitrile, and the extract was cleaned up by the MWCNTs SPE cartridge. The extract was re-dissolved by hexane, eluted with acetone-hexane (7:3, v/v) from the columns. The recoveries were over 70% for the 11 pesticides in the 13 pesticides. The results indicated that the MWCNTs SPE cartridge was efficient for 8 vegetable samples, because it reduced the contamination of the coloring materials to GC-ECD. The experimental results showed the MWCNTs SPE cartridge can adsorb the coloring materials and the eluant was nearly colorless.