Analysis of antibiotics in urine and wipe samples from environmental and biological monitoring—Comparison of HPLC with UV-, single MS- and tandem MS-detection

Results of the simultaneous determination of the structurally different antibiotics cefazoline, cefotiame, cefuroxime, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim from environmental and biological monitoring using high-performance liquid chromatography with UV, single mass and tandem mass spectrometry were compared. For sample enrichment and clean-up a SPE method using bakerbond C18 cartridges was developed. Mean recovery rates were above 70%. Because of the complex urine matrix, only the wipe samples could be analyzed by UV-detection. However, UV-detection and single MS-detection are useful for control measurements after spillage, e.g. (LOD = 1–2 ng/cm2). Samples from biological monitoring of occupational uptake should be analyzed by LC–MS/MS. The limits of detection (LOD) in urine ranged from 0.4 to 70 μg/L for LC–MS and 0.01 to 0.9 μg/L for LC–MS/MS detection. The limits of detection in wipe samples ranged from 0.003 to 0.13 ng/cm2.