The role of GC-MS/MS with triple quadrupole in pesticide residue analysis in food and the environment

Abstract

Gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) using a triple quadrupole (QqQ) analyzer has in the last few years become a powerful technique for the determination of pesticide residues due to its robustness, and excellent sensitivity and selectivity. This review gives an overview of currently published applications of GC-MS/MS with a QqQ analyzer for pesticide residue analysis of different food and environmental sample matrices. This technique allows the reliable quantification and identification of low pesticide concentrations for non-polar (semi) volatile compounds belonging to different chemical families. It has allowed a notable improvement of methods performance in comparison with the traditional GC methods with single stage quadrupole MS.