A comparative study of the correction of systematic errors in the quantitation of pyrethroids in vegetables using calibration curves prepared using standards in pure solvent

A comparative study of two mathematical approaches was performed in order to correct systematic errors due to the presence of the unexpected interferences which appear when the quantitation of the analyte in real samples is carried out with calibration curves built using standards in pure solvent. These methods consisted in the establishment of different mathematical expressions which transform the concentration (Cs) obtained using calibration graphs built using pure solvent into the corrected concentration (Cm) that should be obtained if the quantitation is carried out with calibration curves built using standards dissolved in blank matrix extracts. In the two approaches the correction is performed from the results of an intermediate precision study which was carried out using both calibration graphs (prepared using pure solvent and blank matrix extract). By using ANCOVA to compare the slope of both solvent-based and matrix-matched calibration graphs, matrix effect was found in the determination of deltamethrin in tomato and acrinathrin in tomato and pepper. In these cases, both approaches led to good results.