Liquid Chromatography coupled to tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is a powerful analytical tool for the analysis of polar, semi-volatile, and thermally labile compounds of a wide molecular weight range, such as pesticides, veterinary drugs, mycotoxins and other food residues. Mass analyzers based on triple quadrupole technology operated in Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode deliver highly selective and sensitive quantitative results and are therefore well established for multi-target screening and quantitation of food contaminants.However, the use of triple quadrupole based mass analyzers is limited to targeted screening and quantitation. But there is an increasing demand for retrospective and non-targeted data analysis. High resolution and accurate mass instruments are capable of performing targeted and non-targeted screening in a single LC-MS/MS run.Here, a generic QuEChERS procedure was used to extract residues and contaminants from fruit and vegetable samples. Extracts were subsequently analyzed by LC-MS/MS using an AB SCIEX TripleTOF� system operated in high resolution accurate mass MS and MS/MS mode.Full scan MS and MS/MS data was explored to identify known-unknowns using non-targeted data processing tools. Sample-control-comparison was successfully used to find unexpected contaminants. Identification was based on MS and MS/MS information, including formula finding, ChemSpider searching, and automatic MS/MS fragment ion interpretation. This challenging data processing workflow was automated and allows easy result review and reporting in the latest revision of TripleTOF� software.

Automatic identification of unknown and unexpected pesticides in food samples using accurate mass LC-MS/MS screening techniques

248th National Meeting (2014)

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