Determination of Alkaloids in Honey by Dispersive Solid Phase Extraction and High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A method was developed for simultaneous determination of pyrrolizidine alkaloids and isoquinoline alkaloids in honey by dispersive solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography. tandem mass spectrometry (QuEChERS-HPLC-MS/MS). The honey samples were extracted with acetonitrile solution and cleaned up with PSA absorbent. Agilent Poroshell 120 SB-C-18 chromatographic column was used to separate alkaloids with high sensitivity and satisfactory resolution. The identification and quantification were achieved by using electrospray ionization in positive ion mode (ESI+) with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Matrix. matched calibration curves with good correlation coefficients (R-2 > 0.99) were obtained in the concentration range of 0.1-100 mu g/L. The recoveries of the spiked samples at 1-100 mu g/kg were in the range of 70% to 110% with the RSD of intra. day and inter. day lower than 15% and 20%, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) for all alkaloids were 0.3 and 1.0 mu g/kg, respectively. This method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of pyrrolizidine alkaloids and isoquinoline alkaloids for quantification and confirmation in honey samples.