Water based microwave assisted extraction of thiamethoxam residues from vegetables and soil for determination by HPLC

A microwave assisted extraction (MAE) method for determination of thiamethoxam residues in vegetable and soil samples was standardized. Insecticide spiked vegetable and soil samples were extracted by MAE using water as an extraction solvent, cleaned up by solid phase extraction and analysed by high performance liquid chromatography on photodiode array detector. The recoveries of the insecticide from various vegetable (tomato, radish, brinjal, okra, French been, sugarbeet) and soil (sandy loam, silty clay loam, sandy clay loam, loamy sand) samples at 0.1 and 0.5 μg g(-1) spiking levels ranged from 79.8% to 86.2% and from 82.1% to 87.0%, respectively. The recoveries by MAE were comparable to those obtained by the conventional blender and shake-flask extraction techniques. The precision of the MAE method was demonstrated by relative standard deviations of <3% for the insecticide.