ANALYSIS OF CARBENDAZIM IN AGRICULTURAL SAMPLES BY LASER-DESORPTION AND REMPI TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A method has been developed for the analysis of carbendazim in agricul tural samples. This has been accomplished by the combination of laser desorption with resonance-enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI) cou pled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection. After the optimiza tion of the experimental conditions and the location of the resonant w avelength of the substance, several samples of pepper extract enriched with carbendazim were analyzed, finding a detection limit of the same order of magnitude as that of current GC and HPLC techniques, but wit h higher sensitivity and faster sample preparation.