Quantitative secondary ion monitoring gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of diethylstilbestrol in bovine liver.

A procedure is described for the extraction of diethylstilbestrol (DES) from animal tissue for quantitative capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The procedure is based upon use of a strong anion exchange polystyrene divinylbenzene resin for sample purification. The recovery of DES from the resin clean up was 88% in the high parts per trillion (ppt) range. Criteria for identification of DES using selected ion monitoring (SIM) GC/MS are presented. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) was used to investigate altered DES cis/trans ratios observed in biological extracts.