Determination of Quinolones in Vegetables Using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry
An analytical method for the determination of quinolone antibiotics in vegetables using ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry(UPLC-ESI-MS/MS) was developed.Vegetable sample(1.0 g,D.W.) was extracted using 15 mL acetonitrile-hydrochloric acid(125 ∶ 8,V/V) by oscillation and ultrasound,then purified and concentrated using HLB cartridge and eluted using acetonitrile-acetic acid(99 ∶ 1,V/V).The analyte was determined by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS using acetonitrile(0.1% formic acid) and water(0.1% formic acid) as the mobile phase by gradient elution.Recoveries of spiked quinolone antibiotics in vegetables were from 61% to 90% with relative standard deviation(RSD) between 1.5% and 8.8%.Limit of detection and limit of quantitation were from 0.021 to 0.092 μg/kg and from 0.065 to 0.312 μg/kg,respectively.The method has good accuracy,sensitivity and repeatability to meet practical analysis of vegetable samples.