Determination of Methylene Blue and Its Metabolite Residues in Aquatic Products by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 26; no. 16; p. 4975
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xuan, Hui, Yunhua, Fang, Changling, Wang, Yuan, Han, Feng, Lou, Xiaoyi, Fodjo, Essy Kouadio, Cai, Youqiong, Kong, Cong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17.08.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Accuracy; Acetonitrile; Aluminum oxide; Animals; Aquaculture; aquatic products; Carp; Chromatography; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Disease; disinfectant; Disinfection & disinfectants; Efficiency; Food; High performance liquid chromatography; high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry; Limit of Detection; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Metabolites; Methylene blue; Methylene Blue - analysis; Methylene Blue - chemistry; Proteins; Reproducibility; Reproducibility of Results; Residues; Retention; Scientific imaging; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods; Trout; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; methylene blue; disinfectant; aquatic products; high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules26164975

A sensitive and reliable method was developed to determine methylene blue (MB) and its metabolite residues, including azure A (AZA), azure B (AZB), and azure C (AZC) in aquatic products by HPLC-MS/MS. The samples were extracted by acetonitrile and cleaned up by alumina-neutral (ALN) cartridges. The analytes were separated on a Sunfire C18 column (150 mm × 2.1 mm, 5 µm). The method was validated according to the European criteria of Commission Decision 2002/657/CE. Good linearity between 1-500 µg/L was obtained with correlation coefficients ( ) greater than 0.99. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 1.0 µg/kg. The average recoveries at three levels of each compound (1, 5, and 10 µg/kg) were demonstrated to be in the range of 71.8-97.5%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) from 1.05% to 8.63%. This method was suitable for the detection of methylene blue and its metabolite residues in aquatic products.