Assessment of bioaccumulation of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid in marine mussels using capillary electrophoresis with light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection.

Glyphosate or N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine, widely used as herbicide in agriculture to control weeds and to facilitate harvesting, has been included in Group 2A pollutants (probably carcinogenic to humans) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In intensive agricultural areas, runoff and soil leaching are likely to drive glyphosate to surface waters, where the compound is often detected together with its main microbial metabolite, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). In the present study a method based on capillary electrophoresis coupled with light-emitting diode-induced fluorescence detection has been developed and validated for the determination of the two compounds in whole soft mass of marine mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis). The method is based on the acidic hydrolysis of lyophilized tissue using 6 M HCl (oven at 110 °C for 22 h) to release the target analytes; their subsequent derivatization using 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole, was found to be suitable for the sensitive fluorescence detection. To achieve optimum separation of the analytes from the matrix and degradation reagent interferences, the background electrolyte constituted by borate buffer (pH 9.2, 30 mM) was supplemented with 10 mM heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-ß-cyclodextrin. The method was validated for linearity, precision, accuracy, robustness and sensitivity showing LOQ of 0.2 and 1.0 µg/g in fresh tissues, for AMPA and glyphosate, respectively; the recovery values ranged within 88.5 - 94.6% for glyphosate and 70.4 - 76.6% for AMPA. Experimental samples of Mediterranean mussels M. galloprovincialis treated with 100 µg/L or 500 µg/L of both glyphosate and AMPA, showed a dose dependent bioaccumulation of the compounds reaching maximum level of 77.0 µg/g and 11.3 µg/g of AMPA and glyphosate, respectively. The study demonstrates for the first time M. galloprovincialis as potential sentinel organisms for the environmental occurrence of these small amphoteric pollutants.

Direct determination of glyphosate, glufosinate, and AMPA in soybean and corn by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

Glyphosate, glufosinate, and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) are amphoteric, low mass, high water soluble, and do not have chromophore. They are very difficult to be retained on a reversed phase HPLC and detected by UV or fluorescence detectors. A liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed to determine these analytes in soybean and corn using a reversed phase with weak anion-exchange and cation-exchange mixed-mode Acclaim™ Trinity™ Q1 column. The sample was shaken with water containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (Na2EDTA) and acetic acid for 10 min to precipitate protein and extract the analytes into the solution. The supernatant was passed thru an Oasis HLB SPE to retain suspended particulates and non-polar interferences. The sample was directly injected and analyzed in 6 min by LC-MS/MS with no sample concentration or derivatization steps. Three isotopically labeled internal standards corresponding to each analyte were used to counter matrix suppression effect. Linearity of the detector response with a minimum coefficient of determination (R (2)) of more than 0.995 was demonstrated in the range of 10 to 1000 ng/mL for each analyte. Accuracy (recovery %) and precision (relative standard deviation or RSD %) were evaluated at the fortification levels of 0.1, 0.5, and 2 µg/g in seven replicates in both soybean and corn samples.