Lancaster Laboratories Environmental

Environmental NEWS - Fall 2011

Agricultural chemicals analytical list expanded; instrumentation enhanced

Increased requests for agricultural chemical testing have prompted the Specialty Services Group to expand the pesticide/herbicide testing list. The expansion broadens the scope of service offerings beyond the more traditional testing list for soil and water typically performed using methods 8081, 8141 and 8151 from the Environmental Protection Agency’s SW-846 Manual.

Lancaster Laboratories has expanded the service offering to approximately 150 compounds, which can now be analyzed in foods and feeds. The range of compounds covers traditional Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) such as DDT and metabolites as well as more current use compounds such as carbaryl, 2,4-D and diuron. Plans are to add to the diversity of the offering as client needs and regulations may dictate.

Several points of interest have facilitated the development of this analysis by the Specialty Services Group. First, is the advent of the Quechers Extraction Method—a simplified and broader-ranging extraction. Quechers reduces the need for additional prep cleanups and sample handling and can allow for the extraction of a broader range of compound chemistries. The second is the more routine application of tandem mass spectrometry technology. The Specialty Services Group has successfully applied the use of LC/MS/MS and GC/MS/MS to projects where the greater sensitivity and selectivity of this instrumentation was a great advantage. Therefore, the Specialty Services Group combined their expertise in tandem mass spectrometry with the simplified Quechers extraction to develop a method that addresses a large number of compounds with a wide range of chemistries at very low limits. In many cases, preparing an extract without extra cleanups and coupling that with the greater sensitivity and selectivity of the triple quad mass spectrometer, reporting limits better than those obtained with SW846 methods can be achieved.

“Addressing clients’ requests for broader service offerings with more sophisticated instrumentation, we hope to continually send the message that we are listening to clients and expanding with their needs,” says Chuck Neslund, manager of the Specialty Services Group.