Development of an Immunoassay for the Pyrethroid Insecticide Esfenvalerate

A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed for the detection of the pyrethroid insecticide esfenvalerate. Two haptens containing amine or propanoic acid groups on the terminal aromatic ring of the fenvalerate molecule were synthesized and coupled to carrier proteins as immunogens. Five antisera were produced and screened against eight different coating antigens. The assay that had the least interference and was the most sensitive for esfenvalerate was optimized and characterized. The I(50) for esfenvalerate was 30 +/- 6.2 microg/L, and the lower detection limit (LDL) was 3.0 +/- 1.8 microg/L. The assay was very selective. Other pyrethroid analogues and esfenvalerate metabolites tested did not cross-react significantly in this assay. To increase the sensitivity of the overall method, a C(18) sorbent-based solid-phase extraction (SPE) was used for water matrix. With this SPE step, the LDL of the overall method for esfenvalerate was 0.1 microg/L in water samples.