Simultaneous determination of five antiviral drug residues and stability studies in honey using a two-step fraction capture coupled to liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Assessment of the botanical origin of Saudi Arabian honey samples to identify pollen with chromatographic tools and packing and storage

The increasing demand for honey purification and authentication necessitates the global utilization of advanced processing tools. Common honey processing techniques, such as chromatography, are commonly used to assess the quality and quantity of valuable honey. In this study, 15 honey samples were authenticated using HPLC and GC-MS chromatographic methods to analyze their pollen spectrum. Various monofloral honey samples were collected, including Acacia, Hypoestes, Lavandula, Tamarix, Trifolium, and Ziziphus species, based on accurate identification by apiarists in 2023 from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Honey analysis revealed the extraction of pollen from 20 different honeybee floral species. Pollen identified from honey samples using advanced chromatographic tools revealed dominant vegetation resources: Ziziphus species (23%), Acacia species (25%), Tamarix species (34%), Lavandula species (26%), Hypoestes species (34%), and Trifolium species (31%). This study uses HPLC to extract phenolic compounds, revealing dominant protocatechuic acid (4.71 mg g-1), and GC-MS to analyze organic compounds in honey pollen. Specifically, 2-dodecanone was detected with a retention time of 7.34 min. The utilization of chromatographic tools in assessing honey samples for pollen identification provides a reliable and efficient method for determining their botanical origins, thereby contributing to the quality control and authentication of honey products.

High-performance grating-like SERS substrate based on machine learning for ultrasensitive detection of Zexie-Baizhu decoction

Rapid, universal and accurate identification of chemical composition changes in multi-component traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction is a necessary condition for elucidating the effectiveness and mechanism of pharmacodynamic substances in TCM. In this paper, SERS technology, combined with grating-like SERS substrate and machine learning method, was used to establish an efficient and sensitive method for the detection of TCM decoction. Firstly, the grating-like substrate prepared by magnetron sputtering technology was served as a reliable SERS sensor for the identification of TCM decoction. The enhancement factor (EF) of 4-ATP probe molecules was as high as 1.90 × 107 and the limit of detection (LOD) was as low as 1 × 10-10 M. Then, SERS technology combined with support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), Naive Bayes (NB) and other machine learning algorithms were used to classify and identify the three TCM decoctions, and the classification accuracy rate was as high as 97.78 %. In summary, it is expected that the proposed method combining SERS and machine learning method will have a high development in the practical application of multi-component analytes in TCM.

LC-MS/MS separation and quantitation of ribavirin in chicken and comparison of different mass spectrometric platforms

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for the analysis of ribavirin in chicken. Samples was extracted with 0.1% formic acid and purified by Hypercarb cartridge prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. The eluates were evaporated to dryness, reconstituted in 1 mL 5mM ammonium acetate containing 5% acetonitrile (v/v) and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Hypercarb analytical column under a gradient elution program with acetonitrile and 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in 5 mM ammonium acetate at a flow rate of 0.6 ml/min. The intraday and interday accuracy ranged from - 7.83 - 1.39%, and - 6.38 - 2.25%, with precisions between 1.34 - 3.88%% and 1.10 - 4.67%. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantitation (LOQs) of ribavirin was 0.1 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL, respectively. The method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, matrix effect and stability. Application of the method confirmed 3 ribavirin positive samples out of 50 commercial chicken samples, with concentrations of ribavirin ranging from 0.9 μg/kg to 5.8 μg/kg a, respectively. Additionally, both AB Sciex 5500 and Agilent 6945B were proven to be suitable in ribavirin separation and quantification. The described method is suitable for the determination of ribavirin in chicken in analytical practice to monitor illegal addition of this kind of anti-viral drug.

[Simultaneous Analysis of 7 Antiviral Agents in Chicken Tissues and Processed Products by LC-MS/MS]

Since amantadine, rimantadine, arbidol, laninamvir, oseltamivir, peramivir, and zanamivir may be used as antiviral agents to treat avian influenza, we herein developed a simultaneous assay using LC-MS/MS. This method was applied to chicken products (including yakitori (grilled chicken), fried chicken, chicken steak, and boiled eggs) as well as chicken tissues (muscle, fat, the liver, gizzards, and heart) and eggs.Samples were extracted with methanol-water (9 : 1), purified by a tandem column with an InertSep^® MAX cartridge (upper part) and InertSep^® MCX cartridge (lower part), and then measured by LC-MS/MS. The sample matrix had no effect on the identification of compounds. Chromatographic separation was performed on a ZIC-HILIC column using a mobile phase of 1% acetic acid solution and 1% acetic acid solution in acetonitrile, resulting in complete separation and other obstructive peaks from the sample matrices. An external solvent calibration curve was used for quantification.The application of the method to 6 samples of chicken tissues and eggs achieved good results of between 77.9 and 97.5% for trueness and between 1.7 and 9.2% for concurrent accuracy. The method was also applied to 9 samples of processed products, including grilled chicken and fried chicken, and achieved good results with true percentages ranging between 72.6 and 99.2% and concurrent accuracies between 3.0 and 11.2%. Therefore, the developed method may also be applied to processed products.The limit of quantification (LOQ) of the developed method was 0.01 mg/kg.The method was then applied to 42 types of commercial processed products, including yakitori, fried chicken, steamed chicken, chicken steak, and boiled eggs, and no antiviral agents were detected.Collectively, the present results confirmed that the method developed herein is applicable to not only chicken tissues, but also their processed products.

Simultaneous detection of eight phenols in food contact materials after electrochemical assistance solid-phase microextraction based on amino functionalized carbon nanotube/polypyrrole composite

An electrochemical assistance solid-phase microextraction (EA-SPME) was developed based on amino functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube/polypyrrole (MWCNTs-NH₂/PPy) composite coating. It was applied for the extraction of eight phenols in food contact material, including 2-chlorophenol, o-cresol, m-cresol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 4-tert-butylphenol, 4-chlorophenol, 4-tertoctylphenol and alpha-naphthol. MWCNTs-NH₂/PPy coating was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope, X-ray energy spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption mechanism of phenols on the composite coatings was investigated. The coating modified steel-wire as an extraction fiber has good electroconductibility, reproducibility and long service life. A determination method for the eight phenols was established by EA-SPME coupled with gas chromatography-flame ionization detection. Under the optimal experimental conditions (extraction temperature: 40 °C; extraction time: 30 min; stirring rate: 600 rpm; NaCl concentration: 0.15 g mL^-1; desorption temperature: 250 °C and desorption time: 4 min), the detection linear range was 0.005-50 μg L^-1 (R²>0.99), and the detection limit was 0.001-0.1 μg L^-1 (S/N = 3). For the quintuple analysis of 50 μg L^-1 phenols, the single fiber RSDs were 2.2-12.4%, and the fiber-to-fiber RSDs were 1.9-10.5%. The method was used to detect the migration quantity of the eight phenols from five canned packaging materials, which showed satisfactory recovery 87.3-118.9%.