High-throughput screening and quantification of pesticides in Lilii Bulbus using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

Lilii Bulbus is a notable flower in Chinese cuisine, and has also been used as a Chinese herbal medicine for over 2000 years. This work presents an analytical method for rapidly screening multiple pesticide residues in Lilii Bulbus using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS). For sample pre-treatment, the QuEChERS method is employed, and targeted MS/MS is adopted for data acquisition. Moreover, a database containing 515 pesticides with accurate mass database and a high-resolution fragment ion spectrum library is established in this work. In addition, the qualitative and quantitative results of the screening method are validated. The results show that within the linear concentration range of 2 to 200 μg L⁻¹, for each pesticide, 89.3% of the pesticides exhibit linear correlation coefficients R² equal to or exceeding 0.990. The limit of quantification for all pesticides is below 50 μg kg⁻¹. With a recovery of 70% to 120% and RSD ≤ 20% as the satisfactory standards, 387 (75.0%), 411 (79.7%) and 420 (81.4%) pesticides meet the standards at the three addition levels of 10 μg kg⁻¹, 20 μg kg⁻¹, and 100 μg kg⁻¹, respectively. By utilizing the proposed method, pesticide residues in 100 samples are investigated, providing scientific data to ensure the safety of pesticide residues and demonstrating the general applicability of the method for routine monitoring of pesticide residues in Lilii Bulbus.