Determination of Acephate, Dinotefuran, and Emamectin Benzoate in a Pesticide Formulation: A Single-Laboratory Validation

Abstract Background The advantage of simultaneous separation and quantification is the reduction of analysis time and consumption of solvents and reagents. Objective The objective of the present investigation was to optimize and validate a novel, rapid, and simple reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of acephate, dinotefuran, and emamectin benzoate in a pesticide formulation. Method The chromatographic separation and quantification were accomplished by using Kromasil CN column (250 mm × 4.6 mm; 5 μm) with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and water [0.1% (v/v) triethylamine, pH 2.7 with 10% (v/v) orthophosphoric acid] in the ratio of 50:50 (v/v) with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and diode array detection at the wavelength of (215 nm and 245 nm). Results The HPLC method was able to separate and quantify all the actives in the formulation by isocratic elution within 10 min. The method was fully validated in accordance with the SANCO and Collaborative International Pesticide Analytical Council guidelines concerning system suitability, specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, and robustness. All the analytical parameters are within the range of acceptable limits in the guidelines. Conclusions The validated method was successfully applied to a pesticide formulation. Highlights The novelty of the current research work lies in the development of the simple and rapid HPLC method for simultaneous determination of acephate, dinotefuran, and emamectin benzoate in wettable granular formulation.