Steve Lehotay the “gold standard” of all trace residue analysis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided an update on the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction method, originally developed for multiresidue pesticide analysis. Like any method, QuEChERS had some deficiencies, which were addressed with the new QuEChERSER (adding “efficient” and “robust” to the acronym) mega-method. The European Union (EU) Reference Laboratories developed a new method for the multiresidue analysis of highly polar pesticides, called the quick polar pesticides (QuPPe) method. What is QuPPe and how does it compare to QuEChERS and how can we learn from previously developed methods?
What is QuEChERS vs. QuEChERSER??
Its a multistep method that helps to remove matrix interfaces, so what is new -sample size, extraction solvent, salting out step, clean-up and final extract, note LCMSMS and GCMSMS technologies in the latest Q…..ERSER method- “efficient and robust,” as to accomodate a wider array of pesticides including polar, non-polar where Lehotay coined the term “mega method” now does this work for hemp ?? Not without specialized instrumentation wher ITSP is online using CTC PAL or Gerstel platform for cleanup and Low pressure GC- a configuration change to lower the GC column pressure- speed up the analysis at a compromise to the efficiency - but hey you have MS to deconvolute- could be a win win configuration. https://www.restek.com/en/technical-literature-library/articles/an-introduction-to-low-pressure-GC-MS-LPGC-MS/
Validation of a high-throughput method for analysis of pesticide residues in hemp and hemp products - Journal of Chromatography A 1645 (2021) 462097
In this study, the QuEChERSER mega-method for sample prepa-ration was validated for the analysis of 93 pesticides and metabo- lites in hemp powders, oil, pellets, and plant using UHPLC-MS/MS and ITSP + LPGC-MS/MS for identification and quantification. How- ever, dried hemp plant and flowers were too complex for analysis, and they should have been further diluted in the study. Up to 49 pesticides could be monitored in both analytical tools to provide additional confidence in the results.
Another R&D project to see if viable as hemp flower is not equivalent to complexity of the cannabis flower, definitely worth exploring since nowadays most modern testing labs will have both LCMSMS and GCMSMS technologies.
