Analysis of pesticide residues in Brazilian medicinal plants: matrix solid phase dispersion versus conventional (European Pharmacopoeia) methods

This paper proposes a method based on matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) to determine the presence of organochlorine (OC) and organophosphorus (OP) pesticide residues in species of Passiflora L. (passion fruit) leaves by gas chromatography, using an electron capture detector (HRGC-ECD). A comparison with conventional methods, mainly the European Pharmacopoeia method (EP), showed MSPD to be efficient, fast, simple and easy to perform. To date, there are no official methods or limits that take into account Brazil's "real life" conditions in the analysis of pesticides in medicinal plants and phytomedicines, and the MSPD method described herein has proved to be a feasible one for the analysis of Passiflora L-based phytomedicines.