Simultaneous determination of saflufenacil and its two metabolites in soil samples by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

Saflufenacil is a new protoporphyrinogen-IX-oxidase inhibitor herbicide. When used, it can enter the soil and has a high risk to reach and contaminate groundwater and aquatic systems. A rapid and sensitive method of ultra-performance LC with MS/MS was developed for the simultaneous determination of saflufenacil and its two metabolites in soil samples. A modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method was applied as the pretreatment procedure. The method was validated by five types of soil samples collected from several regions of China, which all showed good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9914) and precision (RSD ≤ 26.2%). The average recoveries of the three analytes ranged between 74.1 and 118.9% at spiking levels of 3–300 μg/kg. The method limits of detection (S/N 3:1) and method limits of quantification (S/N 10:1) achieved are in the ranges of 0.25–2.75 and 0.83–9.16 μg/kg, respectively. This indicated that the developed ultra-performance LC with MS/MS method is a promising analytical tool for monitoring the environmental risks posed by saflufenacil.