Simultaneous determination of azoles antifungal drugs in chicken tissues by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

An ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established for the simultaneous determination of residues of enilconazole, parconazole, thiabendazole and its metabolite, 5-hydroxythiabendazole, in chicken tissues including liver, muscle and egg. Homogenized samples were extracted by acetonitrile, concentrated and purified by an Oasis MCX solid-phase extraction cartridge. Analysis of the target drugs was performed by liquid chromatography with an UPLCTM BEH C18 column, coupled with a tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) operating in the positive multiple-reaction mode (MRM). Good linearity was obtained at concentrations of 0.10-100 μg kg(-1). The average recoveries of the analytes in chicken liver, muscle and egg at six fortification levels were in the range 93.6-119.5% with acceptable coefficients of variation (<14.8%). The detection capability (CCβ) of the analytes upon the method ranged from 0.05 to 138.1 μg kg(-1). This method was successfully applied in screening and confirming of target drugs in tens of real samples.