Determination and Extraction of Acetamiprid Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

Abstract

Vegetables (chilies, tomato, cauliflower and cucumber) and fruits (mango and apple) samples were spiked with known quantity (0.50 mg kg-1) of acetamiprid reference standard for testing the retrieval percentage of acetamiprid residue in those vegetables and fruits. The efficiency of different extracting (ethyl acetate and dichloromethane + acetone 8:2) and eluting (ethyl acetate and dichloromethane + acetone 8:2) solvents and adsorbents (activated charcoal and florisil) for cleanup purpose was calculated using HPLC. Amongst the extracting solvents ethyl-acetate was observed an effective extracting solvent alone which produced maximum 90-96% recovery for acetamiprid residues while among the eluting solvents a combination of dichloromethane and acetone (ratio 8:2) produced superior recoveries i.e. 87-95%. Similarly, between the adsorbents used for cleanup purpose activated charcoal and florisil in tandem (first from charcoal and then through florisil) yielded recoveries 82-90 % whereas adsorbents used alone in form of activated florisil and charcoal recovered only 70 to 78 % and 71 to 73% acetamiprid residues, respectively in all vegetables and fruits.