HPLC-DAD data coupled with second-order calibration method applied to food analysis: Simultaneous determination of six benzoylurea insecticides in various fruit samples by selecting time region of chromatogram

This work presents a novel application of second-order calibration based on self-weighted alternating trilinear decomposition (SWATLD) algorithm for analyzing the HPLC-DAD data. The proposed method makes it possible to simultaneously determine teflubenzuron, hexaflumuron, flufenoxuron, chlorfluazuron, diflubenzuron and benzoylurea in different fruit samples, i.e. pear, apple and banana, in the selected time region of chromatogram. The concentration, elution time and spectral information of these benzoylurea insecticides are selectively extracted from complex matrices even in the presence of unknown interferences. The root-mean-square error of prediction (RMSEP) and figures of merit, including sensitivity (SEN), selectivity (SEL) and limit of detection (LOD) are employed to access the performance of the method. The LODs obtained for these insecticides are within the range 0.017–0.26 ppm in pears, 0.039–0.33 ppm in apples, 0.041–0.44 ppm in bananas, respectively. Such a chemometrics-based protocol holds great potential to be extended as a promising alternative for more practical applications in food safety and quality monitoring.