Determination of chloramphenicol in chicken muscle by high performance liquid chromatography and UV-diode array detection

Abstract A rapid and sensitive method for the determination of chloramphenicol in chicken muscle tissue is described. The method consists of mixing of the ground sample with anhydrous sodium sulphate and acetonitrile, followed by centrifugation and liquid-liquid partition of the supernatant with n-hexane. The acetonitrile extract is evaporated to dryness and the residue dissolved in dichloromethane. Purification was achieved by solid phase extraction silica cartridge and the chloramphenicol is eluated with a acetonitrile/water mixture (20%). Analysis is performed by high-performance liquid chromatography and Diode-Array detection where the peak's identity can be confirmed by comparing retention time and UV-spectra with external standard. Linearity was studied up to 30 ng injected amount. Mean recoveries from spiked chicken muscle samples were 78.3% with a variation coefficient of 5.77%. The detection limit was 0.01 mg/kg. All the examined samples (50) proceeding from Spanish slaughterhouses turned out to ...