Co-formulants in plant protection products: An analytical approach to their determination by gas chromatography-high resolution mass accuracy spectrometry

In the present study, 12 volatile benzene and naphthalene derived co-formulants were identified by suspect screening and unknown analysis in 14 plant protection products (PPPs) corresponding to several types of formulations, as emulsifiable concentrates (EC), suspension concentrates (SC), dispersible concentrates (DC) and ZC, which is a mixture of a capsule suspension (CS) in an SC, containing either difenoconazole or chlorantraniliprole as main active ingredients. The selected technique was gas chromatography coupled to Q-Orbitrap high resolution mass accuracy spectrometry (GC-Q-Orbitrap-MS), providing efficient separation and detection of all identified compounds. Finally, 42 compounds were tentatively identified, and 12 of them were confirmed and quantified using analytical standards. Results showed that the applied methodology was able to detect these coformulants at concentrations as low as 0.03 g/L (tert-butylbenzene), encompassing a wide concentration range, up to 9.63 g/L (pentamethylbenzene). Pentamethylbenzene was the only compound detected in all studied samples.