Sensitive fluorometric determination of quinclorac residues in rice

Rice is one of the most important foods in the world due to its high nutritional value and production. Quinclorac, a selective herbicide, is one of the most detected pesticide residues in rice crops according to pesticide monitoring studies. Common methods for the determination of quinclorac in rice are very time-consuming and labour-intensive, so it is important to develop alternative sensitive and simple analytical methods able to detect quinclorac in food samples. Here we propose a fluorometric method for the screening of this herbicide at excitation/emission wavelengths of 238/358 nm/nm, respectively. A modified QuEChERS method was selected for sample treatment due to its simplicity and high recovery yields. The proposed method presents a detection limit of 2.5 ng mL^-1 and satisfactory precision. Recovery experiments were performed in different kinds of rice (white and brown) at or below the Maximum Residue Limit established in European Union (5 mg kg^-1), obtaining values close to 100%. All these characteristics ensure that the proposed method fulfils the requirements for its application in food control.