A simple analytical method for simultaneous determination of currently used pesticide (CUP) residue in river water using LC-MS/MS

Pesticide residue monitoring in river water is obligatory for their negative ecotoxicological consequences. The current-use pesticides (CUPs) include a diverse range of synthetic pesticides registered by regulatory bodies worldwide as an alternative to the banned organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). Nowadays, CUPs are preferred for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes due to their low persistence and moderate toxicity. This work aimed to optimize a rapid, sensitive salting-out assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (SALLME) method for the simultaneous determination of seven multi-class CUPs. An optimized dose of C18, GCB, and PSA was employed to facilitate an effective and commercially viable clean-up for routine analysis of pesticide residues, followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The optimized SALLME method showed good repeatability and reproducibility, along with low LOD and LOQ values, according to the SANTE/11,312/2021 guidelines. The method validation parameters confirmed the applicability of the optimized SALLME method for trace-level residue analysis in river water. The core advantages of the validated method are:•The method follows simple steps and is cost-effective for the routine analysis of multi-class pesticide residues in river water.•The analytical method is simple and highly sensitive; this could be extended to detect and quantify other pesticides depending on their physicochemical properties.