Determination of Sulfonamides in Edible Salmon Tissue by Liquid Chromatography with Postcolumn Derivatization and Fluorescence Detection
Abstract Fourteen sulfonamides—sulfanilamide, sulfadiazine, sulfathiazole, sulfapyridine, sulfam- erazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethizole, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfachloropyridazine, sulfamonomethoxine, suļfadoxine, sulfamethoxazole, sulfadimethoxine, and sulfaquinoxoline—residues of which could be found in aquacultured species, were separated in <25 min by reversed-phase (C18) liquid chromatography (LC) with gradient elution. Analytes were extracted from edible salmon tissue (muscle and adhering skin) with acetonitrile—2% aqueous acetic acid, isolated with 2 liquid-liquid partitionings, and derivatized with fluorescamine after eluting from the column. The derivatives were detected by fluorescence. Recoveries (n = 4) from coho salmon fortified with sulfonamides at 5,10, and 20 ng/g tissue averaged 79.7± 7.3, 84.6 ± 7.7, and 88.2 ± 7.1%, respectively. Limits of quantitation were 5 ng/g tissue, for sulfanilamide, sulfamethoxypyridazine, and sulfaquinoxoline and 1 ng/g tissue for the remaining sulfonamides.