Development of a robust extraction procedure for the HPLC-ESI-HRPS determination of multi-residual pharmaceuticals in biota samples

A simple, robust and effective extraction procedure for the determination of 74 pharmaceuticals in different fish tissues by ultrasensitive high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray high resolution product scan (HPLC-ESI-HRPS) was developed and validated. Different extraction solvent mixtures were tested to achieve the highest recoveries of the selected analytes, to minimize the influence of a complex matrix and to reduce the total analysis time as well as cost of analysis. A mixture of acetonitrile + isopropanol (3:1 v/v) acidified with 0.1% formic acid was the best extraction solvent among the five solvents tested for most of the tissues with the exception of plasma samples, where only acidified acetonitrile exhibited the best performance. The developed method was validated at three concentration levels (5, 20 and 50 ng g-1) in five different fish tissues (liver, kidney, brain, muscle and plasma). Most of the target analytes were extracted with a recovery between 60 and 130%. Very low limits of quantification (LOQs) were obtained for the majority of the pharmaceuticals in all of the studied matrices. The developed analytical method was successfully applied for the analysis of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) originating from the waste water effluent-dominated pond Cezarka (Czech Republic). The results confirmed the importance of multi-tissue analysis to obtain complex information on the distribution of pharmaceuticals in fish. [Display omitted] •One step solvent extraction for five different fish tissues was developed.•Acceptable recoveries together with lowering of matrix effect were achieved.•This method was validated for determination of 74 pharmaceuticals by LC-ESI/HRPS.•LOQs at sub ng g−1concentration levels were reached for most analytes.•The method was successfully applied for field fish experiments.