High-speed liquid chromatographic determination of monensin, narasin, and salinomycin in feeds, using post-column derivatization

A high-speed liquid chromatographic (LC) method using post-column derivatization is described for the determination of monensin, narasin, and salinomycin in a variety of animal feeds. The ionophores are extracted with hexane-ethyl acetate (90 + 10). A portion of the sample is evaporated, diluted to a known volume, and analyzed using a 6 cm 3 microns C18 column and an absorbance detector after post-column reaction with vanillin. The method has been applied to poultry and swine feeds with levels of 3-100 ppm added antibiotic. A comparison was also carried out with medicated poultry feed and beef feed lot supplement samples previously analyzed by 2 separate bioassay methods for monensin and salinomycin, respectively. Recoveries for the LC method ranged from 92.1 to 103% with an average recovery of 98.1% and a coefficient of variation of 3.65%.