Enantiomeric-selective determination of pyrethroids: application to human samples

Abstract

Recently, some works point out the bioaccumulation of pyrethroids in humans. Given the chiral properties of pyrethroids, our goal in this work was to develop a gas chromatography (GC)-MS-MS methodology for the enantioselective analysis of six common pyrethroids. For the first time, we separate the enantiomers of bifenthrin, cyhalothrin, cyfluthrin, cypermethrin, permethrin and tetramethrin in a single analysis of less than 75 min and with resolutions greater than 0.58 in all cases. The developed method proved to be reproducible (with relative standard deviations under 3 %) and sensitive (with instrumental limits of detection from 4 to 49 fg) enough to evaluate the enantiomeric distribution of these pyrethroids. The developed methodology was applied to commercial insecticides and human breast milk samples. Some potential selective bioaccumulation for cyhalothrin, cyperpermethrin and tetramethrin was described in humans