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K Mastovská

Publications and source records attributed to K Mastovská.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Performance of programmed temperature vaporizer, pulsed splitless and on-column injection techniques in analysis of pesticide residues in plant matrices.

A programmed temperature vaporizer (PTV) injection technique has been recently implemented in our laboratory. In present paper its performance is compared with other GC injection techniques commonly used in trace analysis of organic contaminants. Twenty-six pesticides representing different chemical classes were selected for the study. This group comprised compounds typically subjected to discrimination in the injection port of the gas chromatograph, e.g., polar organophosphorus pesticides and thermolabile carbamates. In the first set of experiments standards in pure solvent were injected into GC systems employing different types of injection, i.e., (i) on-column, (ii) pulsed splitless, (iii) PTV solvent split, (iv) PTV splitless, and the responses of analytes were compared. Discrimination of troublesome compounds was significantly decreased with the application of PTV solvent split injection. In the second set of experiments repetitive injections of purified wheat samples were performed, with aims to evaluate the long-term stability of responses, as well as matrix effects in different stages of system contamination for each injection technique. The tolerance of the GC system to co-injected matrix components was increased in the order: on-column<pulsed splitless<PTV solvent split technique. As regards matrix effects, these were suppressed considerably with the PTV solvent split technique in comparison with pulsed splitless injection. With the latter technique after 66 injections of wheat samples relative responses (apparent recovery) reached as much as 450% for some compounds, while with the application of PTV matrix effects did not exceed 200% under the same conditions.

Chromatography, Gas↗

Optimization and evaluation of low-pressure gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the fast analysis of multiple pesticide residues in a food commodity.

A fast method of analysis for 20 representative pesticides was developed using low-pressure gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LP-GC-MS). No special techniques for injection or detection with a common quadrupole GC-MS instrument were required to use this approach. The LP-GC-MS approach used an analytical column of 10 m x 0.53 mm I.D., 1 microm film thickness coupled with a 3 m x 0.15 mm I.D. restriction capillary at the inlet end. Thus, the conditions at the injector were similar to conventional GC methods, but sub-atmospheric pressure conditions occurred throughout the analytical column (MS provided the vacuum source). Optimal LP-GC-MS conditions were determined which achieved the fastest separation with the highest signal/noise ratio in MS detection (selected ion monitoring mode). Due to faster flow-rate, thicker film, and low pressure in the analytical column, this distinctive approach provided several benefits in the analysis of the representative pesticides versus a conventional GC-MS method, which included: (i) threefold gain in the speed of chromatographic analysis; (ii) substantially increased injection volume capacity in toluene; (iii) heightened peaks with 2 s peak widths for normal MS operation; (iv) reduced thermal degradation of thermally labile analytes, such as carbamates; and (v) due to larger sample loadability lower detection limits for compounds not limited by matrix interferences. The optimized LP-GC-MS conditions were evaluated in ruggedness testing experiments involving repetitive analyses of the 20 diverse pesticides fortified in a representative food extract (carrot), and the results were compared with the conventional GC-MS approach. The matrix interferences for the quantitation ions were worse for a few pesticides (acephate, methiocarb, dimethoate, and thiabendazole) in LP-GC-MS, but similar or better results were achieved for the 16 other analytes, and sample throughput was more than doubled with the approach.

Food Contamination↗

Fast temperature programming in routine analysis of multiple pesticide residues in food matrices.

Flash gas chromatographic (GC) analysis of 15 organophosphorus pesticides commonly occurring in food crops was performed using the Thermedics Detection EZ Flash upgrade kit installed in the oven of a HP 5890 Series II Plus gas chromatograph. The temperature program and splitless time period were the main parameters to be optimized. In the first set of experiments wheat matrix-matched standards were analyzed both by: (i) the flash GC technique (resistive heating of a 5 m capillary column), and (ii) the conventional GC technique (moderate oven temperature programming of a 30 m capillary column). Using the flash GC technique, the analysis time was reduced by a factor of more than 10 compared to the conventional GC technique. Dramatically improved detectability of analytes was achieved due to much narrower peak widths. The flash GC technique was compared with another approach to faster GC analysis employing a 5 m column and fast temperature programming with a conventional GC oven. In comparison with this alternative, in the case of flash GC significantly better retention time repeatability was observed. The other superiority of resistive heating is very rapid cooling down (i.e., equilibration to the initial conditions) which contributes to the increased sample throughput.

Chromatography, Gas↗