Liquid chromatographic–tandem mass spectrometric determination of selected sulphonamides in milk

Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry is used for the quantitative analysis of selected sulphonamides in milk. Ultrafiltration is the only sample pre-treatment technique which is required. Consequently, sample throughput is much higher than with conventional procedures, and analyte recoveries are high. As for quantification, both external standard and isotope dilution calibration yield satisfactory results. The method is fully validated for five sulphonamides with a maximum residue limit of 100 μg/kg, and which are included in the Dutch control programme on residues. Furthermore, results are presented on the applicability of the method to detect compounds at a much lower concentration level exemplified by a banned sulphonamide, dapsone, which has a provisional action limit of 5 μg/kg. The main conclusion is that the present, novel approach to the trace-level determination of veterinary drugs is simple and straightforward and has a wide-ranging application potential which is briefly exemplified by the analysis of selected benzimidazoles in milk by essentially the same procedure.