The original QuEChERS method consists of two steps, a salting out extraction and a dispersive SPE (dSPE) clean-up (Anastassiades et al., 2003). Since in the QuEChERS approach the sample should have more than 75% of water, an initial dilution of the honey sample was required. The use of ethyl acetate associated with acetonitrile provided less colorful (yellow) extracts, making the clean-up step easier. The use of sodium acetate together with acetic acid buffered the extracts (pKa of acetic acid = 4.75) improving pesticides stability and increasing the extraction efficiency. Magnesium sulfate was used in order to ensure dryness of the sample
by means of an exothermic reaction, leading to phase separation and extraction of the compounds by the acetonitrile:ethyl acetate solution. To remove the matrix interference, a clean-up step was also performed. A dispersive solid phase extraction employing PSA together with Florisil was performed. PSA had the ability to retain matrix components, such as polar organic acids, sugars and fatty acids. Florisil improved sample clean-up, due to the sugars interaction with the polar surface of this sorbent (Koesukwiwat, Sanguankaew, & Leepipatpiboon, 2008; Kujawski et al., 2014; Prestes et al., 2009).