Liquid chromatographic determination of pyrethroid insecticide, cypermethrin, residues in cabbage, cauliflower and capsicum

A new high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the quantitative analysis of cypermethrin in vegetable samples has been described. The determination of cypermethrin was carried out on Kromosil C18 analytical column (250 mm × 4.6 mm I.D., 5 μm particle size), under reversed phase chromatographic conditions in isocratic mode with acetone and cyclohexane (5:95 v/v) as mobile phase. The flow rate was 1.0 ml/min and eluent was monitored at 254 nm. The retention time of cypermethrin was 5.35 min. Under the optimized experimental conditions, Beer’s plot showed good correlation in the concentration range of 0.5–3 μg/ml. The method is validated with respect to sensitivity, selectivity, precision and accuracy. The method is found to be sensitive, accurate and precise and successfully applied to the determination of cypermethrin in vegetable samples like cabbage, cauliflower and capsicum. Cypermethrin was detected in all the selected vegetable samples.Key words: Pyrethroid insecticide, High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Analysis, Vegetable samples