A fast and sensitive detection of low-level chloramphenicol in food samples using the IMS/homogenizer assisted DLPME combination

•A homogenizer-assisted DLPME-IMS method has been proposed for chloramphenicol assay.•The method was very fast, inexpensive and environmentally friendly.•The method offers an excellent enrichment factor and low detection limit.•The analysis of chloramphenicol in food samples was successfully done by the method. A new dispersive liquid-phase microextraction (DLPME) assisted by a homogenizer was employed for the extraction-preconcentration of chloramphenicol. The combination of this method with the ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) provided a fast and sensitive way to chloramphenicol analysis in food samples. The effect of parameters influencing the extraction efficiency was evaluated. The type and amount of solvent used, the pH and ionic strength of the sample solution, and the rate and time of homogenization were the investigated parameters. The obtained calibration curve under the optimized conditions was linear in the range from 0.5 to 20 μg L−1. The detection limit and limit of quantitation were calculated 0.13 and 0.43 μg L−1. The appraised intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations of the method were evaluated to be 4.8 % and 6.2 %, respectively. The proposed method allowed to access an enrichment factor of 821. The applicability of this method was examined for the determination of chloramphenicol in a cow milk, and two chicken meat samples purchased from local providers (Zanjan Province, Iran). The relative recoveries were found in the range of 91.4–112.0 %.