Determination of Three Nitroimidazole Residues in Royal Jelly by High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A method for analysis of trace metronidazole (MTZ) dimetridazole (DMZ) and ronidazole (RNZ) residues in royal jelly was developed by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). After samples were dissolved in sodium hydroxide solution to disassociate target analytes from matrix, liquid-liquid extraction methods by ethyl acetate solvent were used. Matrix effects were minimized and good quantitation results were obtained by using highly-selective reaction monitoring (H-SRM) technology when deuterated dimetridazole (dimetridazole-D-3) was selected as internal standard. Limits of detection (LODs) were 1.0 mu g/kg for DMZ, 0.5 mu g/kg for MTZ and RNZ (S/N > 5). Limits of quantitation (LOQs) were 2.0 mu g/kg for DMZ, 1.0 mu g/kg for MTZ and RNZ (S/N > 10). The linear ranges were 2.0 - 200 mu g/L for all target analytes. Recoveries and relative standard deviations (RSDs) were in the ranges of 96.6%-110.6% and 2.1%-7.4%, respectively. This method is suitable for statutory residue testing in the National Residue Surveillance Plan in China and meets the requirement for export.