Determination of eighty-two pesticides and application to screening pesticides in cannabis growing facilities.

Determination of pesticides in cannabis facilities is increasingly important as medicinal and recreational uses of cannabis products expand rapidly. We report a method involving wipe sampling, liquid chromatography separation, and tandem mass spectrometry, which enables determination of 82 pesticides out of the 96 regulated by Health Canada. To demonstrate an application of the method, we sampled and measured pesticides in two cannabis growing facilities, representing a non-certified and a certified site. We detected 41 pesticides in surface wipe samples at the non-certified site and 6 at the certified site. This study provides the first evidence showing pesticide occurrence on common surfaces in cannabis growing facilities and points to a need for routine monitoring and strict control of pesticide use in cannabis facilities.

High throughput solid phase microextraction: A new alternative for analysis of cellular lipidome?

A new SPME method for untargeted lipidomic study of cell line cultures was proposed for the first time. In this study the feasibility to monitor changes in lipid profile after external stimuli was demonstrated and compared to the conventional Bligh & Dyer method. The human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line was used as a model. The obtained results provided a list of up-regulated and down-regulated lipids through a comparison between control (non-stimulated) cells versus the group of cells treated with polyunsaturated fatty acid (20:5). Use of the SPME technique yielded a list of 77 lipid species whose concentrations were recognized to be significantly different between control and treated cells, from which 63 lipids were up-regulated in treated cells. In general, the list was comparable to the peer list obtained by the Bligh & Dyer method. However, more diversity of lipid classes and subclasses such as LPC, sphingomyelins, ceramides, and prenol lipids were observed with the application of the SPME method. Method precision for the SPME approach was within the acceptable analytical range (5-18% RSD) for all detected lipids, which was advantageous over solvent extraction applied. The evaluation of ionization efficiency indicated no matrix effect for the SPME technique, while Bligh & Dyer presented significant ionization suppression for low abundant species such as LysoPC, PG, ceramides, and sphingomyelins, and ionization enhancement for high abundant phospholipids such as PE.

Application of solid phase microextraction for quantitation of polyunsaturated fatty acids in biological fluids.

Development of a straightforward strategy for simultaneous quantitative analysis of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) species in biofluids is a challenging task because of the extreme complexity of fatty acid distribution in biological matrices. In this study, we present a direct immersion solid phase microextraction method coupled to a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry platform (DI-SPME- HPLC-ESI -MS) for determination of unconjugated fatty acids (FA) in fish and human plasma. The proposed method was fully validated according to bioanalytical method validation guidelines. The LOD and LOQ were in the range of 0.5-2 and 5-12 ng/mL, respectively, with a linear dynamic range of 100 fold for each compound. Absolute and relative matrix effects were comprehensively evaluated and found to be in the acceptable range of 91-116%. The affinity constant (Ka) of individual FAs to protein albumin was determined to be 9.2 × 10(4) to 4.3 × 10(5) M(-1). The plasma protein binding (PPB%) was calculated and found to be in the range of 98.0-99.7% for different polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The PUFAs under study were found at a high concentration range in fish plasma, whereas only a few were within quantification range in control human plasma. The method was successfully applied for monitoring PUFA changes during the operation in plasma samples obtained from patients undergoing cardiac surgery with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The most significant contribution induced by surgery was noticed in the concentration level of α-linolenic acid (18:3, ALA), arachidonic acid (20:4, AA), and docosahexanoic acid (22:6, DHA) soon after administration of CPB in all cases.

Speciation of butyl and phenyltin compounds using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and gas chromatography-flame photometric detection.

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and gas chromatography-flame photometric detection (DLLME-GC-FPD) were performed for the speciation of butyl and phenyltin compounds in water samples after derivatization with sodium tetraethylborate (NaBEt4). Some important parameters, such as pH, amount of NaBEt4, derivatization time, kind and volume of extraction and disperser solvents, extraction time and salt effect were investigated and optimized. High enrichment factors (825-1036) and low detection limits (0.2-1 ng L(-1)) were obtained under the optimum conditions. The calibration graphs were linear in the range of 0.5-1000 ng L(-1) (as Sn) for the target analytes. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for the extraction of 20 ng L(-1) (as Sn) of butyl and phenyltin compounds varied from 2.3 to 5.9% (n=7) and from 4.1 to 8.8% (n=7) with and without using internal standard, respectively. Seawater and river water samples were successfully analyzed using the proposed method and the relative recoveries of the studied compounds in the water samples, at spiking levels of 10.0 and 100 ng L(-1) (as Sn) were obtained to be 82.5-104.7%.

Development of a dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction method for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in water.

A very simple and powerful microextraction procedure, the dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME), was used for the determination of the content of 10 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water samples, using gas chromatography coupled with electron-capture detection (GC-ECD). The appropriate amount of acetone (disperser solvent) and chlorobenzene (extraction solvent) at the microlevel volume was used for this procedure. The conditions for the microextraction performance were investigated and optimized. The optimized method exhibited a good linearity (R(2)>0.996) over the studied range (0.005-2 microg L(-1)), illustrating a satisfactory precision level with R.S.D. values between 4.1% and 11.0%. The values of the detection limit (S/N=3) were found to be lower than 0.002 microg L(-1). Furthermore, a large enrichment factor for the analytes (up to a 540-fold) was achieved in a very short time for only a 5.00-mL water sample. The effectiveness of the method towards real samples was tested by analyzing well, river and seawater samples. The relative recoveries of the well, river and seawater samples, which had been spiked with different levels of PCBs were equal to 92.0-114.0%, 97.0-102.0% and 96.0-103.0%, respectively. The attained results demonstrated that DLLME combined with GC-ECD was a fast and inexpensive technique for the PCBs determination in water samples.