Rapid microwave assisted derivatization of nitrofuran metabolites for analysis in shrimp by high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detector

Abstract A sensitive analytical method was proposed based on high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection coupled with microwave-assisted derivatization for the quantitative analysis of nitrofurans metabolites in shrimp samples. A novel derivatization reagent, 4-(acridone-10-yl)benzaldehyde, was synthesized and applied to the derivatization of several common nitrofurans metabolites (semicarbazide, 1-aminohydantoin, 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone, and 3-amino-morpholinomethyl-2-oxazolidinone). The influences of microwave power, irradiation time and temperature on the derivatization efficiency were investigated using Box-Behnken design. Moreover, microwave-assisted derivatization can obtain higher derivatization yields in a shorter period of time. Under the optimized conditions, the derivatization was achieved within 7.2 min. Lower limits of detection were obtained ranging from 0.20 to 0.28 μg/kg for all nitrofurans metabolites compounds. Satisfactory recoveries were obtained ranging from 90.5 to 103.6%. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of four nitrofurans metabolites in shrimp. Furthermore, this developed method should offer great potential to the analysis of nitrofurans metabolites in foodstuffs.