Simultaneous Determination of Sulfonamides in Honey by Liquid Chromatography

Abstract A simple and rapid method using liquid chromatography (LC) for the simultaneous determination of 10 sulfonamides (sulfathiazole, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamonomethoxine, sulfadiazine, sulfamerazine, sulfadimidine [sulfamethazine], sulfamethoxazole, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfachloropyridazine, and sulfaquinoxaline) in honey has been developed. Samples were dissolved in 30% sodium chloride and then extracted with dichloromethane. The extracts were cleaned up on a Sep-Pak Florisil cartridge. The LC separation was performed on a LiChrosphere RP-18e column (250 x 4.0 mm id) with 0.05M sodium dihydrogen phosphate-acetonitrile (2 +1) as the mobile phase; the drugs were detected at 275 nm with 0.04 AUFS. The calibration graphs were rectilinear from 1 to 40 ng for each drug. The recoveries at the level of 0.5 µg/g were 62.1-90.2%, and the detection limits were 0.05 µg/g for each drug. Sulfamonomethoxine was found in 2 samples of domestic products at levels of 0.23 and 0.83 µg/g.