Selective extraction of Bactrocera oleae sexual pheromone from olive oil by dispersive magnetic microsolid phase extraction using a molecularly imprinted nanocomposite.

Bactrocera oleae Gmelin, also known as olive fruit fly, is the main olive tree pest. It produces a severe effect not only on the productivity but also on the quality of the olive-related products. In fact, the oil obtained from infected olives has a lower antioxidant power. In addition, an increase of the oil acidity, peroxide index and UV-absorbance can also be observed. 1,7-dioxaspiro-[5,5]-undecane (DSU), is the main component of the sexual pheromone of this pest and may be used as marker of the pest incidence. In this context, the development of new methods able to detect the pheromones in several samples, including agri-food or environmental ones, is interesting. In this work, we synthesized a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIPS) layer over magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SiO2@MIP) for the selective recognition of DSU. They were prepared using DSU as template and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) to associate the target analyte on the surface of the magnetic substrate and the later polymerization of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) in presence of 2,2-azobisisobutyonnitrile (AIBN). The resulting Fe3O4@SiO2@MIP composite was characterized by different techniques. The maximum adsorption capacity of DSU on Fe3O4@SiO2@MIP in hexane was 32mg/g (5.3 times than that obtained for the non-imprinted composite). In addition, Fe3O4@SiO2@MIP showed a short equilibrium time (45min) and potential reusability. The combination of dispersive magnetic microsolid phase extraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection allows the determination of DSU in real samples at concentrations as low as 10µg/L with precision better than 7.5% (expressed as relative standard deviation). The relative recoveries are in the range between 95 and 99%, which indicates the potential of the methodology. Finally, it has been applied to real olive oil samples being the presence of the pest detected is some of them.

Determination of Tuta absoluta pheromones in water and tomato samples by headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Tuta absoluta is a tomato pest which is originally from South America. This pest was detected in eastern Spain in 2006 and it rapidly invaded various European countries and spread throughout the Mediterranean basin. The usual detection of this pest is based on the physical evaluation of the crops and in the exhaustive count of potential insects in dedicated traps. The early detection of that pest on the basis of more objective or measurable indicators is desirable. In this case, the combination of headspace and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection is proposed for the identification of Tuta absoluta pest using two of its pheromone components as markers. These components, namely: (3E,8Z,11Z)-tetradecatrien-1-yl acetate and (3E,8Z)-tetradecadien-1-yl acetate, are characteristic of Tuta absoluta and they are not present in other insect pheromones. The developed combination allows the determination of both components in water and tomato samples with limits of detection in the range from 25-32 ng/L to 89-111 ng/kg, respectively. The precision, expressed as relative standard deviation, was better than 4.6% for water samples and better than 7.1% when tomato samples were analyzed. The relative recovery values varied in the interval 94-100 and 83-99% for water and tomato samples.