Ultra-performance liquid chromatography combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ToF-MS) has been used for screening and quantification of more than 100 veterinary drugs in milk. The veterinary drugs represent different classes including benzimidazoles, macrolides, penicillins, quinolones, sulphonamides, pyrimidines, tetracylines, nitroimidazoles, tranquillizers, ionophores, amphenicols and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs). After protein precipitation, centrifugation and solid-phase extraction (SPE), the extracts were analysed by UPLC-ToF-MS. From the acquired full scan data the drug-specific ions were extracted for construction of the chromatograms and evaluation of the results. The analytical method was validated according to the EU guidelines (2002/657/EC) for a quantitative screening method. At the concentration level of interest (MRL level) the results for repeatability (%RSD<20% for 86% of the compounds), reproducibility (%RSD<40% for 96% of the compounds) and the accuracy (80-120% for 88% of the compounds) were satisfactory. Evaluation of the CCβ values and the linearity results demonstrates that the developed method shows adequate sensitivity and linearity to provide quantitative results. Furthermore, the method is accurate enough to differentiate between suspected and negative samples or drug concentrations below or above the MRL. A set of 100 samples of raw milk were screened for residues. No suspected (positive) results were obtained except for the included blind reference sample containing sulphamethazine (88 μg/l) that tested positive for this compound. UPLC-ToF-MS combines high resolution for both LC and MS with high mass accuracy which is very powerful for the multi-compound analysis of veterinary drugs. The technique seems to be powerful enough for the analysis of not only veterinary drugs but also organic contaminants like pesticides, mycotoxins and plant toxins in one single method.
The use of pharmaceuticals in livestock production is a potential source of surface water, groundwater and soil contamination. Possible impacts of antibiotics on the environment include toxicity and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Monitoring programs are required to record the presence of these substances in the environment. A rapid, versatile and selective multi-method was developed and validated for screening 43 pharmaceutical and fungicides compounds, in surface and groundwater, in one single full-scan MS method, using benchtop U-HPLC-Exactive Orbitrap MS at 50,000 (FWHM) resolution. Detection was based on calculated exact masses and on retention time. Sample volume, pH conditions and solid-phase extraction (SPE) sample clean-up conditions were optimized. In the final method, 74 % of the compounds had recoveries higher than 80 %, 15 % of the compounds had recoveries between 60 % and 80 %, and 7 % of the compounds had recoveries between 40 % and 50 %. One of the compounds (itraconazole) had a recovery lower than 10 % and nystatin was not detected. The level of detection was 10 ng L(-1) for 61 % of the compounds, 50 ng L(-1) for 32 % and 100 ng L(-1) for 5%. In-house validation, based on EU guidelines, proves that the detection capability CCβ is lower than 10 ng L(-1) (for β error 5 %) for 37 % of the compounds, lower than 50 ng L(-1) for 35 % of the compounds and lower than 100 ng L(-1) for 14 % of compounds. This study demonstrates that the ultra-high resolution and reliable mass accuracy of Exactive Orbitrap MS permits the detection of pharmaceutical residues in a concentration range of 10-100 ng L(-1), applying a post target screening approach, in the multi-method conditions.
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