Separation and analysis of diastereomers and enantiomers of cypermethrin and cyfluthrin by gas chromatography

Synthetic pyrethroid (SP) insecticides are of environmental significance because of their high aquatic toxicity. Due to their chirality, SP compounds contain multiple diastereomers and enantiomers. However, due to great structural similarities and lack of isomer standards, gas chromatographic (GC) analysis of SP diastereomers or enantiomers is poorly developed. In this study, we used a HP-5 column to separate the diastereomers and a beta-cyclodextrin-based enantioselective column (BGB-172) to separate the enantiomers of cypermethrin (CP) and cyfluthrin (CF). Resolved peaks were identified by comparing chromatograms of isomer-enriched CP products. Diastereomers of both CP and CF were separated on the HP-5 column. On the BGB-172 column, enantiomers of all cis diastereomers were separated, while those of trans diastereomers were not separated. The elution order appears to be regulated by configuration, a finding which may allow peak identification in the absence of isomer standards. When coupled with electron capture detection, the developed methods had low detection limits and may be used for analysis of SP diastereomers and enantiomers in environmental samples.