Analysis of pesticides in red wines by on-line coupled reversed-phase liquid chromatography-gas chromatography with vaporiser/precolumn solvent split/gas discharge interface.

Pesticides in red wines were analysed by on-line coupled reversed-phase liquid chromatography-gas chromatography where a vaporiser/precolumn solvent split/gas discharge interface enabled direct transfer of aqueous eluent to the GC system. The LC part of the system provided sample clean-up and re-concentration, and the GC the final analytical step. The method developed allowed automated and quantitative analysis of the wine samples, where the only manual step was filtration. The limits of quantification were clearly below the maximum residue limits established for grapes, being lower than 10 micrograms l-1 for all pesticides studied.