Determination of Gibberellin A3 residue in fruit samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A fast, simple, low cost, and high throughput method has been developed for the determination of Gibberellin A3 residue in fruit samples (apple, orange, peach, pear and grape). Analysis is performed by LC-MS/MS operated in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, acquiring two specific precursor-product ion transitions per target compound. The method has been validated showing good linearity and selectivity. Limits of quantification (LOQs) were 10μgkg(-1) for apple, orange, peach, pear and grape samples. The average recoveries, measured at three concentration levels (10, 20 and 200μgkg(-1)) were in the range 77.8-96.2% for the compound tested with relative standard deviations below 13.7%. The proposed method is rapid, simple and could be utilised for the routine analysis of Gibberellin A3 in fruit samples.