A novel method for the determination of organophosphorus pesticides in urine samples using a combined gas diffusion microextraction (GDME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) technique

This study introduces a novel and sensitive method for determining organophosphorus pesticides in urine using Gas Diffusion Microextraction (GDME) combined with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The goal is to offer an efficient, cost-effective method for extracting and analyzing these toxic compounds, which are widely used and harmful to human health and the environment. Organophosphorus pesticides, such as diazinon and chlorpyrifos, are among the most toxic and prevalent. The study aims to validate a specific, sensitive sample preparation and detection method for diazinon in urine. Urine samples from individuals not exposed to these pesticides were extracted with GDME, under optimal conditions of 60°C, 34 minutes, and 300 µL of receptor phase. Samples were analyzed using GC-MS. The method showed good linearity (0.01 to 100 µg/L) and excellent sensitivity with detection limits of 0.0058 µg/L for diazinon and 0.016 µg/L for chlorpyrifos.•Results indicate the higher sensitivity and selectivity of GDME compared to traditional methods like solid-phase microextraction.•GDME method for pesticide extraction demonstrated superior performance, with a much lower limit of detection for diazinon (0.0058 µg/L) than conventional methods (0.02 µg/L).•This study highlights GDME's potential for accurate and reliable pesticide detection.