DETERMINATION OF IMIDACLOPRID IN VEGETABLES BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH DIODE-ARRAY DETECTION

An HPLC method is described for the determination of imidacloprid resi dues in vegetables at levels ranging from 0.01 to 0.60 mg/kg. The sele ction of the extraction and clean-up procedure is discussed. Spectral data obtained with diode-array detection allow the identification of i midacloprid residues. Thermospray mass spectrometric studies were carr ied out in combination with HPLC. The mean recoveries and standard dev iations were 95% and 4.7%, respectively, in the various crops tested. Registration of the analytical results for a control sample in quality control charts demonstrated the performance of the method. Data for i ncurred residues of imidacloprid in vegetable samples routinely applyi ng the proposed method are also presented.