Abstract: A rapid method was developed for the simultaneous determination of chloramphenicol and erythromycin residues in aquatic products by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with solid phase extraction (SPE). Samples were extracted with acetonitrile and the extract was then purified by an Oasis PRiME HLB SPE cartridge. The analytes were detected in the multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and quantified by the isotope internal standard method. The limits of quantification (LOQ) for chloramphenicol and erythromycin were 0.1 and 0.5 μg/kg, respectively. The average recoveries of the 2 analytes ranged from 86.7% to 102.6% with relative standard deviations of less than 5% in aquatic products (fish, shrimp and crab) at three spiked levels (n = 6). This proposed method was advantageous in routine detection of antibiotic residues in aquatic products for its simplicity and high sensibility.

Key words: solid phase extraction, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, aquatic products, chloramphenicol, erythromycin