Comparison of Programmableversus Single Wavelength Fluorescence for the Detection of Three Fluoroquinolone Antibacterials Isolated from Fortified Chicken Liver Using Coupled On Line Microdialysis and HPLC

Abstract

A recently introduced programmable fluorescence detector was compared with a single wavelength fluorescence detector for quantification of fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibacterial agents, which have widely varying spectral characteristics. The two detectors were connected in parallel to an HPLC system to test their performance characteristics. With single wavelength detection, two FQs, flumequine and oxolinic acid could be detected at an emission wavelength of 368 nm in a single chromatogram while a third FQ, sarafloxacin, was not observed at that wavelength. Similarly, when the detector was optimized for sarafloxacin emission at 440 nm, the other two compounds were undetected. In contrast, all three FQs were quantified at their individual maxima in a single run using the programmable fluorescence detection. The applicability of an HPLC – programmable fluorescence detector, in combination with on-line microdialysis, also was evaluated using chicken liver fortified at low ppb levels with the three FQs. After on-line microdialysis sample clean up, the resultant HPLC chromatograms were free of background interference enabling the programmable detector to optimize the quantitation of the three analytes in a single run. The limit of quantification (LOQ) determined for each FQ was 1.0 ppb and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.2 ppb, an order lower in magnitude than was obtainable with single wavelength detection.