Advances on Traditional Chinese Medicine Application of Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Correspondingly Sample Preparations in Pesticide Residue Analysis

The past few years show the considerable potential in the application of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to control pesticide residues for insure environment and food safety. This review focuses on the advances of LC-MS/MS analysis of pesticide residues and especially addressed its applications and prospect in the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Some sample preparation techniques which recently developed and extensively used are also surveyed as they are still mandatory in many applications for the reason of time consuming and easily errors. Furthermore, emphasis is placed on the advantages and disadvantages of them in order to provide information for pesticide residue control in Chinese medicine production.