Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric methodology using solid-phase microextraction for the multiresidue determination of pesticides in surface waters

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and selected ion monitoring (SIM) was used for the analytical determination of priority pesticide residues. Fibers coated with a 65-mum film thickness of polydimethylsiloxane divinylbenzene (PDMS-DVB) were used to extract 31 pesticides of different chemical groups. The quality parameters of the method demonstrated a good precision with detection limits of 1-56 ng/L. Linearity was controlled in the range of 0.1-50 mug/L. The proposed method was applied for the trace-level determination of the target pesticides in surface water samples including three rivers and one lake at the Epirus region (north-west Greece) for a period of one year. The results demonstrate the suitability of the SPME-GC-MS approach for the analysis of multi-residue pesticides in environmental water samples.