Chemometrics-assisted liquid chromatographic determination of quinolones in edible animal tissues

Abstract A chemometric technique applied to chromatographic-spectral data allowed the quantification of ten different quinolones in edible animal tissues such as chicken and bovine liver and bovine kidney. The employed strategy proved to be excellent for the analysis of quinolones when complete analyte separation is difficult or requires long analysis times. In addition, the target signals suffer interference from the complex background matrices, which can be resolved by the data processing tools. The analysis was carried out applying multivariate curve resolution coupled to alternating least-squares (MCR-ALS). The latter allowed the chromatographic determinations to be performed under isocratic conditions in less than 5 min. Under these experimental conditions, appropriate figures of merit such as selectivity (0.08–0.8) and sensitivity (400–23000 fluorescence intensity units L mg−1) were achieved. Furthermore, the average relative prediction errors (4–12%) and detection limits (7–125 μg Kg−1) permitted the determination of quinolones at concentrations which are below the corresponding maximum residue limits permitted.