Multiresidue analysis of plant growth regulators in grapes by triple quadrupole and quadrupole-time of flight-based liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

A selective and sensitive LC-MS/MS method is presented for simultaneous determination of 12 plant growth regulators, viz., indol-3-acetic acid, indol-3-butyric acid, kinetin, zeatin, 6-benzyl aminopurine, gibberellic acid, abscisic acid, chlormequat chloride, forchlorfenuron, paclobutrazole, daminozide, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid, in bud sprouts and grape berries. The sample preparation method involved extraction of homogenized sample (5 g) with 40 mL methanol (80%), and final determination was by LC-MS/MS in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with time segmentation for quantification supported by complementary analysis by quadrupole-time of flight (Q-TOF) MS with targeted high-resolution MS/MS scanning for confirmatory identification based on accurate mass measurements. The recovery of the test compounds ranged within 90–107% with precision RSD less than 5% (n = 6). The method could be successfully applied in analyzing incurred residue samples, and the strength of accurate mass analysis could be utilized in identifying the compounds in cases where the qualifier MRM ions were absent or at an S/N less than 3:1 due to low concentrations.