The chemical contamination in fruit and vegetables represents a challenging analytical issue, with tomatoes deserving to be investigated as they are fundamental components of the Mediterranean diet. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitro-PAHs contamination is of serious concern, due to particulate deposition and to uptake from contaminated soils and water. However, time-consuming, non-simultaneous and/or non-eco-friendly extraction procedures are typically used to investigate organic contamination in tomatoes, with nitro-PAHs that have not yet been studied. Based on these premises, this work reports the development of a QuEChERS-based approach, coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, for the simultaneous determination of 16 PAHs, 14 PCBs and 4 nitro-PAHs in three tomato cultivars. The effect of dichloromethane, cyclohexane and acetone, as well as of four clean-up phases were studied through the advanced combination of full factorial experimental design and multiple response optimization approaches. The final protocol, based on cyclohexane extraction followed by a double purification step with primary secondary amine and octadecyl silica and a sulfuric acid oxidation, led to 60–120% recoveries (RSD% < 15%). Good repeatability (inter-day precision <15%) and negligible matrix effect (<16%) were confirmed and the protocol was applied to the analysis of real tomato samples purchased in a local market.

Experimental Design and Multiple Response Optimization for the Extraction and Quantitation of Thirty-Four Priority Organic Micropollutants in Tomatoes through the QuEChERS Approach

Rivoira L.
First
;
Cecconi G.;Castiglioni M.;Testa V.;Bruzzoniti M. C.
Last
2023-01-01

Abstract

The chemical contamination in fruit and vegetables represents a challenging analytical issue, with tomatoes deserving to be investigated as they are fundamental components of the Mediterranean diet. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitro-PAHs contamination is of serious concern, due to particulate deposition and to uptake from contaminated soils and water. However, time-consuming, non-simultaneous and/or non-eco-friendly extraction procedures are typically used to investigate organic contamination in tomatoes, with nitro-PAHs that have not yet been studied. Based on these premises, this work reports the development of a QuEChERS-based approach, coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, for the simultaneous determination of 16 PAHs, 14 PCBs and 4 nitro-PAHs in three tomato cultivars. The effect of dichloromethane, cyclohexane and acetone, as well as of four clean-up phases were studied through the advanced combination of full factorial experimental design and multiple response optimization approaches. The final protocol, based on cyclohexane extraction followed by a double purification step with primary secondary amine and octadecyl silica and a sulfuric acid oxidation, led to 60–120% recoveries (RSD% < 15%). Good repeatability (inter-day precision <15%) and negligible matrix effect (<16%) were confirmed and the protocol was applied to the analysis of real tomato samples purchased in a local market.
2023
10
3
174
174
https://www.mdpi.com/2297-8739/10/3/174
CG-MS; experimental design; food contamination; multiple response optimization; nitro-PAH; organic micropollutants; PAH; PCB; QuEChERS; tomatoes
Rivoira L.; Del Bubba M.; Cecconi G.; Castiglioni M.; Testa V.; Isola M.; Bruzzoniti M.C.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1898672
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