A simple and sensitive single-step method for gas chromatography–mass spectrometric determination of fipronil and its metabolites in sugarcane juice, jaggery and sugar

A simple and sensitive single-step method for gas chromatography–mass spectrometric determination of fipronil and its metabolites viz., fipronil desulfinyl, fipronil sulphide and fipronil sulphone in sugarcane juice, jaggery and sugar has been developed. Acetonitrile was superior to ethyl acetate in terms of selectivity, though they were on par with each other in terms of recoveries. This method does not require any cleanup as the PSA-based cleanup was on par with no-cleanup treatment. Interestingly, the recoveries of fipronil and its metabolites decreased with increased amounts of C18 from 10 to 50 mg/g of matrix. Matrix effects were insignificant and the limit of quantification was 0.005 μg/g. The recoveries of fipronil and its metabolites varied between 87.5% and 108.5% with the RSD of 0.2–5.3% for all the three matrices studied. This method has also been validated by monitoring fipronil and its metabolites in the retail outlet samples of sugarcane juice, jaggery and sugar.