Spinosad

Application description

Spinosad is a novel mode-of-action insecticide derived from bacteria species. Spinosad has been used around the world for the control of a variety of insect pests. Spinosad is one of the pesticides used for treatment of marijuana plants. Spinosad consists of Spinosyn A and Spinosyn D. This compound has sugar-like fragments as well as a tertiary amine group. Since marijuana contains hundreds of compounds (terpenes, cannabinoids, etc.), it is difficult to analyze this compound by HPLC without special and intense sample preparation techniques. We have developed an analysis approach which does not require any sample preparation to remove interference from the sample matrix. Spinosad was analyzed and retained on the Amaze mixed-mode column in cation-exchange mode. The stationary phase does not have any RP properties. All hydrophobic compounds, such as terpenes and cannabinoids, elute in the void due to the lack of interaction with stationary phase. The retention time of spinosad is controlled by the amount of buffer and buffer pH. This method can be used for quantitative analysis of basic pesticides/herbicides in complex matrices with minimal sample preparation.