An Accurate-Mass Database for Screening Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables by Gas Chromatography–Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the capabilities of gas chromatography (GC) with time–of–flight mass spectrometry (MS) for screening pesticides in fruits and vegetables using a purpose-built accurate-mass database. Analytical performance was tested on four matrices: potato, tomato, spring onion, and orange. Two resolution modes, 7000 FWHM and 12,000 FWHM, were tested to establish the concentration range within which automatic identification was possible, considering the retention time window of 0.2 min and at least two ions with a mass error lower than 10 ppm as the identification criteria. The effects of the matrix on identification and quantification were also studied for the four selected matrices. The developed method was applied to real samples and the qualitative and quantitative results were compared with those obtained using GC with triplequadrupole MS.