Determination of mepiquat chloride in grape, wine and juice by liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

A simple and rapid method was developed for the analysis of mepiquat chloride in grape, wine and juice by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Mepiquat chloride was extracted with water-methanol (1: 1). Extracted solution was adjusted to pH 10 with ammonia solution. A part of the extracted solution was cleaned up on a styrenedivinylbenzene (SDVB) cartridge for LC/MS/MS. The LC separation was performed on a C 18 column (50 mm X 2 mm W.) using 0.1 % IPCC-MS7-methanol (60: 40) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The mass spectral acquisition was done in the positive ion mode by applying selected reaction monitoring (SRM). The recoveries of mepiquat chloride from fresh grape, wine and juice fortified at 5,mug/kg and 50 mug/kg were 84.5-96.1 %. The lower limit of quantification was 1mug/kg. Fourteen fresh grape samples, 14 wines (white), 36 wines (red) and 11 juice samples were analyzed by this method. Mepiquat chloride was detected in 5 fresh grape samples, 3 wines (white) and 1 wine (red) at the level of 12.8-199,mug/kg, 5.7-47.7 mug/kg and 24.1 mug/kg, respectively.