Comparison of the performances of gas chromatography- quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in rapid screening and confirmation of 208 pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables

The performances of gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (GC-QTOF/MS) for the determination of 208 pesticide residues in fruit and vegetable samples, including apple, orange, tomato and cucumber, were compared comprehensively. Based on the differences of the two instruments, their respective characteristics and scopes of application in the detection of the pesticide residues were presented, which provided the reference for the analysis of pesticide residues. The performance parameters of the two instruments, such as overall recoveries, precisions, limits of detection, linear ranges, identification points and matrix effects, were evaluated according to a designed experiment. At three spiked levels (5.0, 10.0 and 20.0 µg/kg), the average recoveries for the majority of pesticides (93.0%) ranged from 70% to 120% in the four matrices with relative standard deviations below 20%. The limits of detection for most of the pesticides by GC-MS/MS and GC-Q-TOF/MS were less than 5.0 µg/kg. Compared with GC-QTOF/MS, GC-MS/MS showed relatively lower limits of detection and wider linear ranges, and its performance was more satisfactory in accurate quantitative analysis due to its superior sensitivity. On the other hand, GC-QTOF/MS provided accurate mass measurement, which was proved to be an efficient analytical tool on the rapid screening and confirmation of a large number of pesticides and non-target compounds.