Extracting Pesticides from Shallots Utilizing Environmentally Friendly Vapors of In Situ Plasmon-Activated Water

Today, the issues of environmental science and sustainable development are consistently highly valued. Furthermore, water is the most abundant and recyclable substance on earth and is also the most environmentally friendly solvent and reactant in the fields of chemistry and physics. Traditionally, pesticides were extracted utilizing organic solvents, which are effective but are harmful to the environment. In this work, in situ vapor of plasmon-activated water (PAW) was first utilized to effectively extract lipophilic pesticides from shallots. Compared to extraction with conventional deionized water (DIW) vapor, tricyclazole (TC), sulfoxaflor (SF), and imidacloprid (IM) could more effectively be extracted from shallots utilizing in situ PAW vapor, which was confirmed by analyses of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of the pesticides and their corresponding liquid chromatographic (LC)/tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) spectra. Moreover, the degree of swelling of artificial skin was more significant under an atmosphere of in situ PAW vapor, which makes extracting pesticides more effective. Active and more energetic in situ PAW vapor has emerged as a promising green solvent that can be applied for removing pesticides from crops. The environmentally friendly extraction strategies we developed provide an innovative idea for green science that avoids using harmful reagents.