Study of agricultural samples by laser desorption coupled with resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization and time-of-flight mass spectrometry:: Application to carbendazim analysis in pepper

A method for the analysis of carbendazim in peper has been developed using Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) for the sample preparation and the combination of Laser Desorption (LD) with Resonance Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization (REMPI) coupled to Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (TOF-MS) for the detection. The method allows the analysis of carbendazim in pepper reducing the sample preparation step and avoiding the matrix effects present in classical GC and HPLC techniques, as well as the problems related to the labile properties of carbendazim. The detection limit obtained is of the same order of magnitude as the generally employed HPLC technique, but with higher sensitivity and easier sample preparation.