Dynamic ultrasound-assisted extraction of colistin from feeds with on-line pre-column derivatization and liquid chromatography-fluorimetric detection

A dynamic ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) method with on-line pre-column derivatization/high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fluorimetric detection is proposed for the analysis of colistin in feed. A flow injection manifold is used for the development of the extraction and derivatization steps and for interfacing them with the separation/detection step, thus providing an on-line approach with the advantage of minimum sample handling. The derivatization was performed with ortho-phthaldialdehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol. The optimum conditions for colistin extraction and formation of the fluorescent derivative have been obtained by experimental design methodology. The use of a high-intensity probe sonication makes UAE an expeditious (7 min versus >1 h) and efficient (93.1–98.2% versus 87.5–94% of recovery) alternative as compared with extraction using an ultrasonic bath. The within-laboratory reproducibility and repeatability, expressed as percentage of relative standard deviation, were 5.2 and 5.8, respectively.