Extraction Method for Determining Dinotefuran Insecticide in Soil Samples

Abstract

Dinotefuran is a third-generation neonicotinoid insecticide that has a broad action spectrum in agriculture pests. Dinotefuran was authorized in Brazil in 2019, being classified as a very dangerous product for the environment. Therefore, this study aimed to optimize and validate the solid-liquid extraction with low temperature purification to determine dinotefuran in soil samples using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled diode array detection. The results showed that the best extracting phase was acetonitrile:water (8:2 v/v), followed by the clean-up with 50 mg of primary-secondary amine. The method under these conditions has a linear range of 15.0 to 140 µg kg-1 and reached limits of detection and quantification of 10.0 and 15.0 µg kg-1, respectively. The validation revealed that the method was selective, precise, accurate, and presented a matrix effect of 15%. Although dinotefuran was not detected in real soil samples, the proposed method proved to be an efficient alternative for monitoring dinotefuran in soil samples.