Determination of nicarbazin in feeds using liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry

A method is presented for the determination of the 4,4'-dinitrocarbanilide component of the coccidiostat nicarbazin in animal feeds. Samples are extracted by shaking with methanol and analysed, without further clean-up, using liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry. A deuterated form of the analyte is employed as internal standard to improve the repeatability of the method. The method has been validated at levels between 0.1 and 100 mg kg(-1) with internal standard corrected recoveries between 88 and 101% and RSD values < 8%.