Determination of tetracyclines in honey using liquid chromatography with ultraviolet absorbance detection and residue confirmation by mass spectrometry

A determination method has been optimized and validated for the simultaneous analysis of tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC), chlortetracycline (CTC) and doxycycline (DC) in honey. Tetracyclines (TCs) were removed from honey samples by chelation with metal ions bound to small Chelating Sepharose Fast Flow columns and eluted with Na(2)EDTA-Mcllvaine pH 4.0 buffers. Extracts were further cleaned up by Oasis HLB solid-phase extraction (SPE), while other solid-phase extraction cartridges were compared. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a polar end-capped C18 column with an isocratic mobile phase consisting of oxalic acid, acetonitrile, and methanol. LC with ultraviolet absorbance at 355 nm resulted in the quantitation of all four tetracycline residues from honey samples fortified at 15, 50, and 100 ng/g, with liner ranges for tetracyclines of 0.05 to 2 mu g/mL. Mean recoveries for tetracyclines were greater than 50% with R.S.D. values less than 10% (n = 18). Detection limits of 5, 5, 10, 10 ng/g for oxytetracycline, tetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline, respectively and quantitation limits of 15 ng/g for all the four tetracyclines were determined. Direct confirmation of the four residues in honey (2-50 ng/g) was realized by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The linear ranges of tetracyclines determined by LC/MS/MS were between 5 to 300 ng/mL, with the linear correlation coefficient r > 0.995. The limits of detection of 1 to 2 ng/g were obtained for the analysis of the TCs in honey.