Simple and rapid assay for analyzing residues of carbamate insecticides in bovine milk: hot water extraction followed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

A simple, specific and rapid procedure for determining six largely used carbamate insecticides in bovine whole milk is here presented. This method is based on the matrix solid-phase dispersion technique with heated water as extractant followed by liquid chromatography (LC)–mass spectrometry (MS) equipped with a single quadrupole and an electrospray ion source. Target compounds were extracted from milk by water heated at 90 °C. After acidification and filtration, 0.2 mL of the aqueous extract was injected in the LC column. MS data acquisition was performed in the selected ion-monitoring mode, selecting three ions for each target compound. Heated water appeared to be an excellent extractant, since absolute recovery data ranged between 76 and 104% with R.S.D. not larger than 8%. Using butocarboxim (an obsolete carbamate insecticide) as surrogate internal standard, the accuracy of the analysis at three spike levels varied between 85 and 105% with R.S.D. not larger than 9%. On the basis of a signal-to-noise ratio of 10, limits of quantification were estimated to range between 3 ppb (propoxur) and 8 ppb (pirimicarb). The effects of temperature, volume and flow rate of the extractant on the analyte recovery were studied.