Ion-paired extraction of cephalosporins in acetone prior to their analysis by capillary liquid chromatography in environmental water and meat samples.

Ion-pair extraction of cephalosporins from aqueous solution into acetone by the addition of ammonium sulfate to a 1:2 (v/v) acetone-water solvent was carried out followed by their determination using reversed-phase capillary liquid chromatography. The analytes included are cephoperazone, cefquinome, cephalexin, cephapirin, cephaloniun, cephamandole, cephazolin and cephadroxile. In order to form the ion-pair, hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was selected as cationic ion-pairing agent at a concentration of 0.9 mM using 10mM phosphate buffer at pH 8 as the optimum condition for the aqueous solution. The applied methodology, named salting-out assisted liquid/liquid extraction (SALLE) involves the use of 1.25 g of ammonium sulfate as salting-out agent. The separation of cephalosporins using a Luna C18 (150 mm × 0.3mm, 5 µm, 100 Å) column was achieved under the following conditions: a gradient program combining solvent A (0.1% formic acid in water, pH 4) and solvent B (acetonitrile-methanol (50:50, v/v)), at a flow rate of 20 µl min(-1), column temperature 35°C and injection volume 7 µl with UV detection at 250 nm. The limits of quantification for the studied compounds were between 4.3 and 22.7 µg/L for water samples and 4.1 and 73.3 µg/kg in the case of beef samples, lower than the maximum residue limits permitted by the EU for this kind of food. The developed methodology has demonstrated its suitability for the analysis of these widely applied antibiotics in environmental water and meat samples, including beef and pork muscle, with high sensitivity, precision and satisfactory recoveries.

Convenient solid phase extraction of cephalosporins in milk using a molecularly imprinted polymer.

In this paper, a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for cephalosporin molecules (cephalexin (CFL) and cephapirin (CFP)), was prepared by non covalent molecular imprinting approach and applied to solid phase extraction (SPE). For MIP synthesis, a tributylammonium cefadroxil salt (TBA-CFD) was used as template with methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as monomer and cross-linker, respectively, in acetone-methanol 92/8 (v/v) mixture. The selectivity of MIP versus non imprinted polymer (NIP) was confirmed for CFL, CFD and CFP in standard solutions as well as in milk samples. The efficiency of the synthesized MIP was evaluated by means of the application of the proposed MIP-SPE procedure to spiked milk samples previous to the HPLC method for the detection of cephalosporins. The MIP-SPE recoveries were higher than 60% for the three target analytes in spiked milk.

Trace determination of sulfonylurea herbicides in water and grape samples by capillary zone electrophoresis using large volume sample stacking.

A sensitive and reliable method using capillary zone electrophoresis with UV-diode array detection has been developed and validated for trace determination of residues of sulfonylurea herbicides in environmental water samples and grapes from different origins. The analytes included are triasulfuron, rimsulfuron, flazasulfuron, metsulfuron-methyl, and chlorsulfuron. Optimum separation has been achieved on a 48.5-cm x 50-microm (effective length 40 cm) bubble cell capillary using 90 mM ammonium acetate buffer, pH 4.8, by applying a voltage of 20 kV at 25 degrees C and using p-aminobenzoic acid as the internal standard. In order to increase sensitivity, large volume sample stacking with polarity switching has been applied as on-line preconcentration methodology. For water samples, a solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure based on the use of Oasis HLB cartridges was applied for off-line preconcentration and cleanup. For grape samples, the SPE procedure was achieved with C(18) sorbent, after extraction of the compounds with MeOH:H(2)O (1:1) by sonication. The limits of detection for the studied compounds were between 0.04 and 0.12 microg/L for water samples and 0.97 and 8.30 microg/kg in the case of grape samples, lower in all cases than the maximum residue limits permitted by the EU for this kind of food. The developed methodology has demonstrated its suitability for the monitoring of these residues in environmental water and grape samples with high sensitivity, precision, and satisfactory recoveries.

Large volume sample stacking in capillary zone electrophoresis for the monitoring of the degradation products of metribuzin in environmental samples.

A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method with UV-vis detection has been developed for the simultaneous monitoring of the major degradation products of metribuzin, i.e. deaminometribuzin (DA), deaminodiketometribuzin (DADK) and diketometribuzin (DK). The dissociation acid constants have also been estimated by CE and no significant differences have been observed with the values obtained by applying other techniques. Optimum separation has been achieved in less than 9 min in 40 mM sodium tetraborate buffer, pH 9.5 by applying a voltage of 15kV at 25 degrees C and using p-aminobenzoic acid as internal standard. In order to increase sensitivity, large volume sample stacking (LVSS) with polarity switching has been applied as on-line pre-concentration methodology. Detection limits of 10, 10 and 20 ng/mL for DA, DADK and DK, respectively were obtained. The method has been applied to soil samples, after pressurized liquid extraction (PLE). Samples were extracted at high temperature (103 degrees C and 1500 psi) using methanol as extraction solvent and sodium sulphate as drying agent. This PLE procedure was followed by an off-line pre-concentration and sample clean-up procedure by solid-phase extraction (SPE) using a LiChrolut EN sorbent column. These last two procedures were also suitable for the direct treatment of groundwater samples before CE analysis. The combination of both off-line and on-line pre-concentration procedures provided a significant improvement in sensitivity. LVSS provided pre-concentration factors of 4, 36 and 28 for DK, DA and DADK, respectively and with SPE a pre-concentration of 500-fold for the case of water samples and of 2.5-fold in the case of soil samples was obtained. The method is suitable for the monitoring of these residues in environmental samples with high sensitivity, precision and satisfactory recoveries.