Simultaneous determination of quinocetone and its major metabolites in chicken tissues by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A convenient, rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was firstly established for the simultaneous determination of quinocetone and its 4 major metabolites: 1-desoxyquinocetone, di-deoxyquinocetone, carbonyl reduced metabolite from di-deoxyquinocetone and 3-methyl-quinoxaline-2-carboxylic acid in chicken muscle, liver, kidney and fat. Sample was extracted with acetonitrile and chloroform, and further purified by Oasis MAX SPE cartridge. Analysis was performed on a C18 column by detection with mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode and using a gradient elution program with 0.1% formic acid solution and acetonitrile. The correlation coefficients (r) for each calibration curves are higher than 0.99 within the experimental concentration range. The recoveries of the five target analytes at three spiking levels were between 77.1% and 95.2%, with relative standard deviations less than 15%. The decision limits of the five analytes in chicken edible tissues ranged from 0.24 to 0.76 μg kg−1, and the detection capabilities were below 2.34 μg kg−1. The developed method demonstrated a satisfactory applicability in incurred chicken tissue samples.