Liquid chromatographic determination of ampicillin residues in porcine muscle tissue by a multipenicillin analytical method: European Collaborative Study

A collaborative study involving 14 laboratories was conducted to determine residues of ampicillin in porcine muscle tissue by using a liquid chromatographic method developed for multipenicillin analysis that can quantitate 8 penicillin compounds (benzylpenicillin, phenoxymethylpenicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, cloxacillin, and dicloxacillin) at trace levels in muscle tissue. This method involves extraction of the penicillins with phosphate buffer, pH 9, followed by cleanup and concentration on a C18 solid-phase extraction column and reaction with benzoic anhydride at 50 degrees C and with 1,2,4-triazole and mercury(II) chloride solution, pH 9.0, at 65 degrees C. The derivatized compounds are eluted isocratically on a C8 column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (pH 6; 0.1 M) containing sodium thiosulfate and the ion-pair reagent tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate. The penicillins are detected by UV absorption at 325 nm. The limit of detection and the limit of determination (quantitation) of the method were calculated to be approximately 3-5 and 25 microg/kg, respectively, in accordance with the criteria of European Union (EU) Decision No. 93/256/EEC. In this first interlaboratory study, collaborators were instructed to monitor 4 different penicillin compounds (benzylpenicillin, phenoxymethylpenicillin, ampicillin, and amoxicillin) by analyzing 8 blind samples of muscle tissue in triplicate. These samples were prepared from 2 materials containing different concentrations of incurred ampicillin (63.5 microg/kg for material No. 1 and 358.1 microg/kg for material No. 2) and 1 blank material. The repeatability relative standard deviation and the reproducibility relative standard deviation were 10.2 and 17.4%, respectively, for material No. 1 and 7.0 and 16.0%, respectively, for material No. 2. These results demonstrate that the method is suitable for the determination of ampicillin residues in muscle tissue at the EU maximum residue limit (50 microg/kg) and above. However, the identification of positives by this procedure may need additional confirmation by techniques with greater specificity, such as liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry, or tandem mass spectrometry. Investigations regarding the basis of interlaboratory testing studies will further demonstrate the suitability of multiresidue methodology for detecting and quantitating other compounds in the family of penicillin antibiotics.