Analysis of fungicides by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

There is growing interest in developing methods for the analysis of fungicides in environment sample matrices. Strobilurin fungicides and conazole fungicides are two important classes of fungicides with different modes of action that can be found in agricultural formulations containing more than one active fungicide ingredient. Analysis of conazole fungicides is more challenging due to isobaric interferences such that chromatographic resolution must be obtained for those conazole fungicides with the same selected reaction monitoring transitions. Similarly, simultaneous analysis of fungicides with other active ingredients is desirable. Our liquid chromatography-electrospray positive ion-tandem mass spectrometry method has been expanded to include new conazole and strobilurin fungicides along with other active ingredients found in agricultural formulations that are less frequently analyzed due to their difficulty. The feasibility of simultaneous liquid chromatography-electrospray positive ion-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of a large range of fungicides and other selective ingredients will be demonstrated. Further evaluation of matrix effects in mass spectrometric detection of fungicides in air samples and bee products will be discussed. Pressurized solvent extraction with and without additional clean-up was used to obtain extracts for LC-ESI+-MS/MS analysis.