Determination of 22 triazole compounds including parent fungicides and metabolites in apples, peaches, flour, and water by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

A liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method has been developed for the determination of 14 parent triazole fungicides and 8 of their metabolites found in apples, peaches, flour, raw water, and tap water. The triazole fungicides chosen for this multiresidue method development project included propiconazole, fenbuconazole and its RH-9129 and RH-9130 metabolites, cyproconazole, difenoconazole, tebuconazole and its HWG 2061 metabolite, hexaconazole, bromuconazole (both stereoisomers), epoxiconazole, tetraconazole, triticonazole and its RPA-404886 and RPA-406341 metabolites, triadimefon, triadimenol, and myclobutanil. Of special concern to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were the metabolites common to all triazole fungicides: free triazole, 1,2,4-triazole (T), and its 2 conjugates: triazolylalanine (TA) and triazolylacetic acid (TAA). These metabolites were the primary focus of this project. All samples we cleaned up by a combination of C18 solid-phase extraction (SPE), mixed-mode cationic SPE, and mixed-mode anionic SPE columns. A triple-stage quadrupole mass spectrometer, equipped with electrospray ionization in the positive-ion mode, was used to determine the compounds of interest. T, TA, and TAA were quantitated using isotopically labeled internal standards (IS), in which the 1,2,4-triazole ring had been synthesized by using 13C and 15N (IS_T, IS_TA, and IS_TAA). These isotopically labeled internal standards were necessary to correct for matrix effects. The T, TA, and TAA metabolites were quantitated at the 25-50 parts-per-billion (ppb) level in food commodities and at 0.50 ppb in water. Recoveries were 70-101% from apples, 60-121% from peaches, 57-118% from flour, 75-99% from raw water, and 79-99% from tap water.

Neonicotinoid insecticides: reduction and cleavage of imidacloprid nitroimine substituent by liver microsomal and cytosolic enzymes.

The major insecticide imidacloprid (IMI) is known to be metabolized by human cytochrome P450 3A4 with NADPH by imidazolidine hydroxylation and dehydrogenation to give 5-hydroxy-imidacloprid and the olefin, respectively, and by nitroimine reduction and cleavage to yield the nitrosoimine, guanidine, and urea derivatives. More extensive metabolism by human or rabbit liver microsomes with NADPH or rabbit liver cytosol without added cofactor reduces the IMI N-nitro group to an N-amino substituent, i.e., the corresponding hydrazone. A major metabolite on incubation of IMI in the human microsome-NADPH system is tentatively assigned by LC/MS as a 1,2,4-triazol-3-one derived from the hydrazone; the same product is obtained on reaction of the hydrazone with ethyl chloroformate. The hydrazone and proposed triazolone are considered here together (referred to as the hydrazone) for quantitation. Only a portion of the microsomal reduction and cleavage of the nitroimine substituent is attributable to a CYP450 enzyme. The cytosolic enzyme conversion to the hydrazone is inhibited by added cofactors (NAD > NADH > NADP > NADPH) and enhanced by an argon instead of an air atmosphere. The responsible cytosolic enzyme(s) does not appear to be DT-diaphorase (which is inhibited by several neonicotinoids), aldose reductase, aldehyde reductase, or xanthine oxidase. However, the cytosolic metabolism of IMI is inhibited by several aldo-keto-reductase inhibitors (i.e., alrestatin, EBPC, Ponalrestat, phenobarbital, and quercetin). Other neonicotinoids with nitroimine, nitrosoimine, and nitromethylene substituents are probably also metabolized by "neonicotinoid nitro reductase(s)" since they serve as competitive substrates for [(3)H]IMI metabolism.