Moiety and linker site heterologies for highly sensitive immunoanalysis of cyprodinil in fermented alcoholic drinks

Cyprodinil is a new-generation anilinopyrimidine fungicide widely used in crop protection and frequently found in fruits. In this study, novel derivatives of cyprodinil with linker site heterologies were synthesized and employed in order to produce antibodies with enhanced affinity. Moreover, moiety-heterologous haptens were designed and prepared for assay sensitivity improvement. Two competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for the analysis of this active substance were developed using direct and indirect formats, achieving IC50 values around 0.15 μg/L. Analytical figures of merit and usability of the optimized assays were evaluated with wine and cider as model food processed matrices. The obtained recoveries were from 90% to 120%, and the limit of quantification was in the 1–5 μg/L range. Finally, a monitoring study (n = 150) was performed to estimate the occurrence and the concentration of cyprodinil in commercial wine and cider products from different origins. We found that 28% of the analysed wine samples contained cyprodinil residues at levels higher than 5 μg/L.