Rapid target analysis for pesticides in water by online coated capillary microextraction combined with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

The applicability of online trace enrichment with custom-made coated capill aries combined with tandem mass spectrometry was demonstrated for the targe t analysis of selected pesticides (mainly herbicides, e.g., triazines, phen ylureas, and acetanilides) in water. The developed method allows rapid dete rmination of several widely used plant protectants within a total analysis time of 11 min. Good linearity (r greater than or equal to 0.995) was obtai ned for the selected pesticides in the range of 0.050-50 mu g/L. The relati ve standard deviations (RSDs) of the peak areas were less than or equal to 3.8% for spiked Milli-Q water (5 mu g/L). The RSDs obtained in analyses of spiked (1 mu g/L) water samples (brook water, river water, sewage plant eff luent) ranged from 2.9 to 6.8%, indicating low influence of the matrix on e nrichment and detection. The detection limits, which ranged from 10 to 90 n g/L, fulfilled the requirements of the European regulations for drinking wa ter. The polyacrylate coating of the extraction capillary showed good stabi lity in the presence of water and acetonitrile and allowed greater than or equal to 100 extractions with 1 capillary.