Determination of residual salbutamol in swine tissue by solid phase extraction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A method was developed for determining residual salbutamol in animal tissue using solid-phase extraction(SPE) with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). The homogenized samples were digested by beta-glucuronidase enzyme, and extracted with mixed solvent of ethyl acetate and isopropyl alcohol after adjusting pH. Further cleanup was performed on SCX cartridge after the extract was dried and dissolved in ammonium acetate buffer solution. The eluent was derivated with bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide(BSTFA) when it was dried by nitrogen. The selected ion mode(SIM) detection method (ions elected: 86, 350, 369, 440) was used for the detection of the salbutamol derivative. The detection limit is 0.10 mu g/kg for liver samples. The recoveries of salbutamol in animal tissue samples are 66.4%-82.4%. The within-assay relative standard deviation is 3.5%-5.9% and the between-assay relative standard deviation is 2.2%-4.8% at spiked levels of 0.5-5.0 mu/kg. There is a good linear correlation (the calibration coefficient is above 0.999) between the peak areas and concentration of salbutamol in the range of 0.002-0.50 mg/L.