Simultaneous enantioselective determination of 30 chiral pesticides in vegetables: enantiomeric composition,...

Chiral pesticide residues in food can pose enantioselective health risks. Nevertheless, the high-throughput separation and quantification of chiral pesticides remain challenging. We developed a novel, cost-effective analytical strategy that combines liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with liquid chromatography-diode array detection (LC-DAD) for the absolute quantification of 62 enantiomers originating from 30 chiral pesticides in vegetable samples. By determining the enantiomeric fraction (EF) of commercial standards via LC-DAD, individual calibration curves for each enantiomer were established and validated, thereby enabling their absolute quantification via LC-MS/MS in the absence of enantiopure standards. This method achieved rapid analysis of all 62 enantiomers within 10 min. 55 vegetable samples were analyzed, and six chiral pesticides were detected in 19 different samples. Among them, the selective enrichment of 1S,3S-bifenthrin was observed in cucumbers. This study provides an accurate quantitative method for the determination of chiral pesticides in food safety risk assessment.