Abstract:

An ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method was developed for the simultaneous determination
of 4 nitrofuran antibiotics (furazolidone, furaltadone, nitrofurazone and nitrofurantion) in water and sediment. Water
samples were filtrated and cleaned up using mixed-mode cation exchange solid-phase extraction column (MCX). Sediment
samples were extracted with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid solution (8:2, V/V), and then cleaned up also with MCX solidphase
extraction column. The analytes were separated on a BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) utilizing gradient
elution with a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid solution as the mobile phase. The method showed good linearity
in the range of 10.0–200 μg/L with correlation coefficients (R2) all above 0.999. The recoveries were 81.5%–103.2% and
73.3%–91.9% with relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 5) of 2.0%–5.8% and 3.4%–9.6% for 4 nitrofurans in water and
sediment, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.03 μg/L and 0.6 μg/kg and the limits of quantitation (LOQ)
were 0.1 μg/L and 2.0 μg/kg, respectively. The method can be applied to the determination of nitrofuran antibiotics residues
in water and sediment.

Key words: ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), water, sediment, nitrofuran