Simultaneous Determination of 13 Quinolones in Eggs Using Column High-Performance Liquid Chromatography/Electrospray Ionization-Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Depletion of Pefloxacin Methanesulfonate in Eggs

An efficient method was developed for simultaneous determination of 13 quinolones--namely, enoaxacin (ENO), marbofloxacin (MAR), ciprofloxacin (CIP), norfloxacin (NOR), ofloxacin (OFL), pefloxacin methanesulfonate (PEF), danofloxacin (DAN), enrofloxacin (ENR), lomefloxacin (LOM), difloxacin (DIF), sarafloxacin (SAR), oxolinic acid (OXO), and flumequine (FLU)--in eggs by column liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. Samples were extracted with a phosphoric acid-phosphate buffer followed by purification with a solid-phase extraction cartridge. Recoveries for the 13 quinolones were 67-93% with intraday and interday coefficients of variation ranging from 4 to 9% and 2 to 18%, respectively. The limit of determination was 0.05 μg/kg for OXO and FLU; 0.1 μg/kg for MAR, OFL, CIP, LOM, DAN, SAR, DIF, NOR, and ENR; and 0.2 μg/kg for ENO and PEF. The method was also applied to study the depletion of PEF in eggs. The concentration of PEF increased and reached a maximum value on the third day, and then decreased rapidly until it could not be detected on day 32; its metabolite NOR was detectable on the second day, and then reached a maximum on the sixth day, after which it could not be detected until day 15.