Integrating liquid-liquid extraction and dispersive solid-phase extraction cleanup for high-throughput profiling of 11 neonicotinoids and 6 metabolites in human urine by HPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS

The widespread use of neonicotinoids has raised growing concerns about their potential health risks. In this study, we developed a robust and high-throughput analytical method based on liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE), followed by high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS) for the simultaneous determination of 11 neonicotinoids and their 6 metabolites in human urine. After pretreatment of LLE and dSPE, qualitative and confirmatory analysis was achieved using tMS 2 acquisition of HPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS, and quantitative analysis was performed using isotope-labeled internal standards and matrix-matched calibration curves. The method was validated with good linearity ( R 2  > 0.9975), recoveries of 75.8%~118.9% (RSDs < 15%), and detection limits of 0.001~0.06 μg/L. The established method was successfully applied to urine samples of community-dwelling elderly population individuals ( n  = 150) and to a suspected case of acute acetamiprid poisoning in Ningxia, China. The results showed that thirteen neonicotinoids and metabolites were detected in the elderly cohort, and the poisoning incident was confirmed to be caused by acetamiprid and its metabolite N-desmethyl-acetamiprid. Meanwhile, Spearman correlation analysis indicated significant positive correlations between parent compounds and their metabolites for all analytes except acetamiprid, and a strong correlation between clothianidin and thiamethoxam, suggesting shared exposure sources or common metabolic pathways. The established method is sensitive, accurate, and high-throughput, and has proven reliable for human biomonitoring and health risk assessment of neonicotinoid exposure. Graphical