Open Access

A simple method to quantify the neonicotinoid insecticides nitenpyram, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, imidacloprid, thiacloprid and clothianidin directly on an HPTLC-plate is presented. As stationary phase silica gel 60 RP-18WF254 s plates were used and a mixture of methyl-t-butyl ether, 2-butanone, NH3 (25%) (5 + 2+0.1, v/v) was used as solvent. All neonicotinoid insecticides show light absorptions below 300 nm. The calculated limits of quantification (LOQ) by UV-detection are in the range from 12 ng to 26 ng on plate depending on the different insecticides.Nitenpyram can be stained using fast blue salt B, forming red zones. The observed LOQ is 25 ng on plate. Acetamiprid can be specifically stained using phenylglyoxylic acid forming a yellow/green fluorescent compound. The LOQ is 52 ng per spot.The compounds thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, thiacloprid and clothianidin can be transformed into blue fluorescing zones, using a relatively new staining solution. This consists of tetraphenylborate and HCl. This is the first publication mentioning that neonicotinoids undergo this reaction. The calculated limits of quantification are in the range from 10 ng to 27 ng on plate.A simple pre-treatment procedure using an acetonitrile extraction and a Chromabond SiOH clean up procedure leads to overall LOQs for bee samples of 48 to 108 µg/Kg. The method can be used to measure neonicotinoid contaminations of bees.

Die Weltwirtschaftskrise 2008 hat mit ihrer zeitweisen Verknappung von Acetonitril eindringlich gezeigt, dass man nicht nur auf eine einzige chromatographische Methode setzten sollte. Genau dies wird aber im Augenblick getan, denn Industrie und Forschung setzen mehrheitlich auf die High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) als die Trennmethode ihrer Wahl. Für viele Anwendungen in der Pharmazie, in der Umweltanalytik, der Lebensmittelanalytik, aber auch in der Inprozesskontrolle gibt es mit der Dünnschichtchromatografie eine Alternative.

We present a two dimensional (2D) planar chromatographic separation of estrogenic active compounds on RP-18 (Merck, 1.05559) and silica gel (Merck, 1.05721) phase. A mixture of 13 substances was separated using a solvent mix consisting of methanol–acetonitrile–water (2 + 2 + 1, v/v/v) on RP-18 phase in the first direction and cyclohexane–butylacetate–methanol (8 + 6 + 1, v/v/v) in the second direction on silica gel plate. Both developments were carried out over a distance of 70 mm. We used the grafted method to combine both plates in a 2D-separation. This 2D-separation method can be used to quantify 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) in an effect-directed analysis using the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae BJ3505. The test strain (according to McDonnell) contains the estrogen receptor. Its activation by estrogen active compounds is measured by inducting the reporter gene lacZ that encodes the enzyme ß-galactosidase. This enzyme activity is determined on plate by using the fluorescent substrate MUG (4-methylumbelliferyl ß-D-galactopyranoside).