Quantitative analysis of erythromycin, its major metabolite and clarithromycin in chicken tissues and eggs via QuEChERS extraction coupled with ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A simple, rapid and novel method involving ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI–MS/MS) was developed to simultaneously detect erythromycin, its major metabolite and clarithromycin in chicken tissues (muscle, liver and kidney) and eggs (whole egg, albumen and yolk). Samples were extracted using acetonitrile–water (80:20, v/v), and a Cleanert MAS-Q cartridge was used to perform quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) purification. The average recoveries were 87.78–104.22 %, and the corresponding intraday and interday relative standard deviations were less than 7.10 %. The decision limits and detection capabilities of the chicken tissues and eggs were 2.15–105.21 μg/kg and 2.26–110.42 μg/kg, respectively. For chicken tissues and eggs, the limits of detection and limits of quantification were 0.5 μg/kg and 2.0 μg/kg, respectively. The proposed method was successfully employed to analyse real samples, demonstrating its applicability.