Beta2-adrenergic agonist residues: simultaneous methyl- and butylboronic derivatization for confirmatory analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A derivatization procedure for confirmatory residue analysis of beta2-agonists is described. Methyl (MBA) and butyl (BBA) boronic acids are simultaneously used for the derivatization of tulobuterol, mabuterol, mapenterol, salbutamol, clenproperol, clenbuterol, clenpenterol and bromobuterol by GC-MS determination. A temperature of 55 degrees C during 60 min was selected as optimal temperature-time condition for simultaneous MBA and BBA beta2-agonists derivatization. It was also observed that stability of boronic derivatives was maintained at -20 degrees C over a period of four days. The proposed methodology was tested in urine and it could be applied for confirmatory residue analysis of clenbuterol-like compounds.