Simultaneous determination of quinolones in foods by LC/MS/MS

A simple method was developed for the simultaneous determination of seven quinolones (enoxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, danofloxacin, lomefloxacin, enrofloxacin and sarafloxacin) in foods using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). The seven quinolones were extracted with acetonitrile containing 0.2% formic acid, and the extracted solution was cleaned up on a C18 cartridge. The extract was diluted with 5 mmol/L IPCC-MS3 for injection into the LC-ESI-MS/MS. The LC separation was carried out on an ODS column with gradient elution of 5 mmol/L IPCC-MS3-acetonitrile as the mobile phase. Mass spectral acquisition was done in the positive ion mode by applying selected reaction monitoring (SRM). The recoveries of the seven quinolones were mostly greater than 60% from foods fortified at 10 ng/g. The detection limits in foods were 2 ng/g for enoxacin and ciprofloxacin, and 1 ng/g for the other drugs. Twenty cattle muscle, 7 swine muscle, 9 chicken muscle, 16 milk, 19 prawn and 20 broiled eel samples from retail markets were analyzed by this method. Enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin were detected in 9 broiled eel at the level of trace (tr)-34 ng/g and tr-10 ng/g, respectively.