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Environmental monitoring is crucial for assessing the overall state of the ecosystems in terms of contaminant impact and chemical landscape. The use of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies considerably eases the sampling activities, as honey bees are exposed to a wide range of substances that are transported and accumulated within the beehives. In this work, combining low-resolution and high-resolution mass spectrometry, the APIStrip passive sampler has been employed to evaluate the presence of pesticide residues and the overall characterization of beehive environments. A total of 180 APIStrips have been deployed in 10 Danish apiaries, located in different landscapes, during a five-month sampling period. The targeted methodology for pesticide analysis was based on gas and liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry, covering 430 pesticide residues. A total of 29 pesticide residues were identified (fluopyram and azoxystrobin being the most frequently detected), with remarkable differences in the pesticide load between apiaries. For its part, the use of non-targeted approaches through liquid chromatography coupled with an Orbitrap mass spectrometer allowed the detection of unknown compounds that were specific of certain environments. Natural products such as eupatilin and gnaphaliin, which are derived from plant sources, were present exclusively in one of the apiaries. Additionally, the detection of drimane sesquiterpenoids, including compounds potentially originating from the Aspergillus genus, suggests the capability of APIStrips to early detect fungal contamination within beehives. This dual approach of low- and high-resolution mass spectrometry maximizes the analytical potential of APIStrips as a tool capable of detecting a wide range of substances with implications for both agricultural practices and ecological health., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Amadeo R. Fernndez-Alba reports financial support was provided by European Commission. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Dual-channel chromatography was evaluated for pesticide residue analysis in fruits and vegetables and for unknown compounds detection. A dual-channel system was tested coupled to triple quadrupole and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The first part of the investigation was related to the improvement of the sample throughput with a 100 mm column. The dual-channel system provided the same analytical results as the single-channel system, however, with the throughput higher of about 70% (80 injections vs 137 injections in 24 h). Two types of calibration (in-channel and cross-channel) were checked. In the article, also solvent consumption is discussed. Six proficiency test samples were analysed to assess the quality of the results. Nor false positives neither false negatives were found. Calculated z-scores were typically <1. In the second part, a different approach was investigated. The 100 mm column was replaced by a 150 mm column keeping shorter run times than single channel system and 100 mm. The longer column improved the sensitivity and selectivity what was demonstrated in the target pesticide residue analysis. Additionally, the 150 mm column was compared with the 100 mm column in the analysis of unknown natural matrix compounds by high resolution mass spectrometry. The longer column allowed to detect up to 26% unknown compounds more than the shorter column., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Ion chromatography coupled to a quadrupole Orbitrap mass analyzer was used to develop a multiresidue method for the determination of highly polar pesticides and their metabolites (chlorate, perchlorate, fosetyl-aluminum, glyphosate, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), phosphonic acid, N-acetyl AMPA, and N-acetyl glyphosate) in fruits and vegetables. After extraction with methanol, samples were diluted 5× with water. No derivatization was applied. Pesticides were separated in an anion-exchange column. Water was used as the ion chromatography mobile phase. A gradient was created by increasing the concentration of KOH in the mobile phase. Ion chromatography provided good and stable retention and separation for all studied compounds. All investigated pesticides had an LOQ of 0.01 mg/kg and a linear range of 0.01-0.50 mg/kg. The ion ratio of the m/z ions produced was stable and adequate (deviation <30%) in all cases. The obtained mass errors (always in full-scan MS and MS2 mode) were <0.2 mDa. The high resolution (>100 000) provided by the Orbitrap analyzer with the low m/z ions obtained (e.g., m/z 80) was effective in obtaining low background matrix signals. The influence of postcolumn infusion of organic solvent on sensitivity was investigated. Acetonitrile was found to be more effective than methanol, increasing the sensitivity 3× with respect to water. The method was validated for five vegetable-based matrixes. Both the sample processing and the analytical measurement were very fast. Hence, the methodology is ideal for high-throughput work.