Determination of thyreostats in bovine urine using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Five thyreostats(TSs),namely tapazole,thiouracil,methylthiouracil,propylthiouracil,and phenylthiouracil,were determined in bovine urine using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UHPLC-MS/MS)in positive electrospray ionization mode.Extraction and clean-up were achieved using a ChemElut cartridge with tert-butyl methyl ether,without a derivatization step.Separation was achieved on an Acquity UPLC SS T3 column.The mobile phase was acetonitrile and water containing 0.2%(v/v)formic acid.The mass spectrometer was operated in multiple reaction monitoring mode.Urine samples were spiked with TS solution at levels corresponding to 5,10,15,and 20μg/L.The accuracy(internal standard corrected)ranged from 92%to 107%,with a repeatability precision(relative standard deviation,RSD)less than 15%for all five analytes.The RSDs within-laboratory reproducibility was less than 26%.The decision limits(CCα)and detection capabilities(CCβ)were obtained from a calibration curve and were in the ranges of 3.1-6.1μg/L and 4.0-7.4μg/L,respectively.The CCαand CCβvalues were below the recommended concentration,which was set at 10μg/L.The results show that the described method is suitable for the direct detection of TSs in bovine urine.This method can also be used to determine TSs in porcine urine.

An Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method for the Quantification of Vancomycin Requiring Only 2 μL of Rabbit Serum

A highly sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the quantification of vancomycin (VAN) in low volumes of rabbit serum. For each analysis, 2 μL rabbit serum was precipitated with methanol that contained the internal standard teicoplanin (TEI). The supernatant was transferred into a 384 well-plate, diluted with water, covered with a pierceable silicone mat and 5 μL was analyzed in positive ionization mode. The UHPLC-MS/MS consisted of an Agilent 1290 Infinity UHPLC system connected to an AB Sciex QTrap®5500 hybrid linear ion-trap triple quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a Turbo Spray source. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (1.7 μm, 2.1 mm × 100 mm) column, a VanGuard (1.7 μm, 2.1 × 5 mm) guard column and a mobile phase of water and methanol both containing 5 mM ammonium acetate with 0.1% formic acid. VAN was quantified with multiple reaction monitoring using the transitions of m/z 725.5/144.2, and TEI was monitored at m/z 940.6/316.4. The accuracy, precision, linearity, range and lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) were determined. The accuracy was ≤9.93% and the precision was ≤10.6%. The range was established as 0.1 to 40 μg·mL-1. The LLOQ was 0.1 μg·mL-1 VAN requiring 2 μL of sample with an accuracy of -20.2% and precision of 8.39%. The method was applied successfully to determine the VAN concentrations in rabbit serum after the i.v. administration of VAN via implanted ear catheters.

Determination of Sodium Pentachlorophenoxide Residues in Animal-derived Foods by Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)

[Objectives]This study was conducted to establish an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the rapid extraction of sodium pentachlorophenoxide from animal-derived food.[Methods]The samples were extracted with an acetonitrile water solution(8∶2),0.1 mol/L hydrochloric acid and a purification extraction bag with shaking.Centrifugation was performed to obtain supernatants,which were added to purification tubes containing PSA and C_(18) for purification,and then filtered with membranes for determination.Each test solution was separated by a ZORBAX Eclipse plus C_(18) column with acetonitrile and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate as mobile phases,and determined with electrospray ionization and multiple reaction monitoring.[Results]The method had good linearity in the concentration range of 1.0-50 ng/ml,and the correlation coefficient was 0.9997.The limit of detection was 0.25μg/kg and the limit of quantification was 0.75μg/kg.The recovery was between 87.4%and 112.5%,and the RSD%was between 0.5%and 10.0%.[Conclusions]The method has simple operation and high sensitivity,and is suitable for trace detection of sodium pentachlorophenoxide in large quantities of animal-derived food.

Development of a Rapid and Simultaneous Detection Method for Buprenorphine, Norbuprenorphine and Naloxone in Human Plasma Using Ultra-high Performance Liquid Chromatography- tandem Mass Spectrometer with Solid-phase Extraction

A simultaneous method was successfully established and validated for the separation and determination of bu- prenorphine （BP）, its primary metabolite, nor-buprenorphine （NBP） and a proposed co-formulate, naloxone （NLX） in human plasma. The method used buprenorphine-d4 （BP-D4）, nor-buprenorphine-d3 （NBP-D3）, naltrexone （NTX） as internal standards （ISs）. 100 μL of plasma sample fortified with the ISs was cleaned up by solid-phase extraction （SPE）, and was then separated on a Waters AcquityTM BEH C18 column with gradient elution using methanol and water （containing 0.2% formic） at a flow rate of 0.25 mL·min^-1. The mass spectrometer was used for detection and was operated in the positive electrospray ionization with multiple reaction monitoring （MRM） mode. The three compounds were effectively separated in 5 min. The linear ranges of the compounds were 0.1--25, 0.25--25 and 0.05--25 ng·mL^-1 for BP, NBP and NLX, respectively, with r≥0.9935. The method had high sensitivity （the lim- its of detection were 0.02, 0.1 and 0.01 ng.mL-1 for BP, NBP and NLX, respectively） and high recoveries （≥97.6%）. The result was shown to be linear and satisfactorily met current acceptance criteria for validation of bio- analytical method： intra and inter assay precisions within the required limits of ≤25% RSD. The LOQs fulfilled the LOQ requirements： precision≤25% RSD, and was fully validated according to the State Food and Drug Administration （SFDA） regulations. The results demonstrated that ultra-high performance liquid chromatography- tandem mass spectrometer （UPLC-MS/MS） with SPE was a powerful detection tool and contributed to pharmaceutical analysis in biological matrices.

Characterization and quantitation of aristolochic acid analogs in different parts of Aristolochiae Fructus, using UHPLC-Q/TOF-MS and UHPLC-Qq Q-MS

Aristolochiae Fructus, a Chinese herbal medicine derived from the fruit of Aristolochia contorta Bge., contains nephrotoxic aristolochic acid analogues(AAAs). According to ancient medical texts, various medicinal parts of the fruit of A. contorta were ever used. In order to reveal which part could be safely and effectively used, it is necessary to analyze the chemical profiles of different medicinal parts. Herein we compared the chemical compositions and determined aristolochic acid I(AA-I) and aristolochic acid II(AA-II) in the four parts viz. outer pericarp, inner pericarp, septum, and seed. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography equipped with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UHPLC-QTOF-MS) was applied for chemical profiling. Ultra-high performance liquid coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry(UHPLC-Qq Q-MS) was employed to quantify AA-I and AA-II in different parts. It was found that the chemical compositions of the four parts varied both qualitatively and quantitatively. A total of 10 AAAs, including 5 aristolochic acids and 5 aristolactams, together with 3 alkaloids, were unambiguously or tentatively identified by UHPLC-QTOF-MS. The quantitatively analytical results obtained by UHPLC-Qq Q-MS showed that AA-I and AA-II exclusively accumulate in the seeds of A. contorta. These findings provide supporting data for the rational selection of medicinal parts.