Abstract:

A high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the
determination of vancomycin, norvancomycin and teicoplanin in pork samples. The selective reaction monitoring mode
was applied in the experiment and an external standard method was used for quantification. Pork samples were weighed,
extracted with deionized water containing 0.1% formic acid-acetonitrile (85:15, V/V). Hexane was added to decrease
fatty acid. Vancomycin and norvancomycin were cleaned on a cation exchange column, while teicoplanin was cleaned up
on an SPE C18 cartridge. Acetonitrile-water containing 0.1% formic acid was used as mobile phase and gradient elution
was used in the experiment. The analytes were separated on a C18 column and then detected by mass spectrometry. The
average recoveries of the method were in range of 75.3%?83.3% at spike levels of 10, 20 and 50 μg/kg, with relative
standard deviations (RSDs) lower than 9%. The Limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) were 2 and
4 μg/kg for vancomycin, and 4 and 8 μg/kg for norvancomycin, respectively. The method could be used for the qualitative
and quantitative detection of vancomycin, norvancomycin and teicoplanin in pork samples.

Key words: pork, vancomycin, norvancomycin, teicoplanin, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)