Abstract: A rapid method for the determination of the residues of 19 anti-histamines and their metabolites in animal-derived foods by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was established. Samples were extracted with acetonitrile-ethyl acetate mixture, and the extract was purified with Enhanced Matrix Removal-Lipid sorbent (EMR-Lipid), and then salted out and concentrated with MgSO4 and NaCl. The chromatographic separation was accomplished on a Poroshell 120 EC-C18 column by gradient elution using 0.1% formic acid as mobile phase A and 0.1% formic acid-acetonitrile as mobile phase B at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The column temperature was set at 35 ℃, and the injection volume was 10 μL. Data were collected by dynamic multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) in electrospray positive ion mode. The analytes were quantitated by external standard method. Statistical analysis indicated that the calibration curves for all analytes had a good linearity with correlation coefficients R2 greater than 0.999 in the tested concentration ranges. The average recoveries for different negative samples (beef, chicken and porcine liver) at three spiked levels were in the range of 75.1%–89.1%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 2.3%–7.1%. The limits of detection (LODs) of this method were 0.2–2.0 μg/kg and the limits of quantitation (LOQs) were 0.6–6.0 μg/kg. In a word, this method proved to be simple, rapid, highly repeatable and sensitive, and reliable, and it could be suitable for rapid screening and quantitative determination of 19 antihistamines and their metabolites in anima-derived food samples.

Key words: antihistamine, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), animal-derived foods, EMR-Lipid sorbent