PURITY ANALYSIS OF IMIDACLOPRID INSECTICIDE COLLECTED FROM JESSORE DISTRICT BY ULTRA HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (UHPLC) WITH PHOTO DIODE ARRAY DETECTOR

Abstract

The present study introduces a UHPLC method that is simple, specific, and accurate in measuring the active component imidacloprid in the 20SL formulation. The analytical separation was conducted using a Waters Cortecs C18 column using an ultraviolet photodiode array (UV-PDA) detector at a wavelength of 272 nm. The method's validation results showed that the suggested method has good specificity with satisfactory linearity (R 2 ≥ 0.9994), short retention time, and peak area precision. The method's accuracy and precision revealed a significant recovery (98.9 - 101.2%) at the three-spiked level with excellent precision (less than 1.89% RSD). The chromatographic separation took around 5 minutes to complete under the established chromatographic conditions. The developed and validated method was used to determine the purity of mostly used and available of seven (7) selected imidacloprid marketed brands insecticide from twenty one (21) samples. The samples were collected from sadar upazilla of Jessore district during September 2021 and then the samples were carried to the food safety laboratory of the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka on the same sampling day. Among 7 different brands of imidacloprid insecticide samples, 5 (71.43%) were found 110-130% pure which means over standard of active ingredient (AI). Whereas one of the total tested brand was 80-90% pure, and the remaining one brand was below 10% pure. This means that farmers are using imidacloprid having either higher or less of AI than required. This study reflects the small scale scenario of the presence of AI in different marketed brands of imidacloprid insecticide, which will help the policy maker to be aware of quality control importance of the plant protection products.