Determination of tibric acid and clofibrate in animal feed, wastewater and hunan urine.

Abstract

Analytical chemical procedures are described to determine residues of the drugs clofibrate and tibric acid in animal feed, wastewater, and human urine. Clofibrate was extracted from animal feed and human urine with hexane, whereas residues from wastewater were collected on a Sep-PakTM then eluted with methanol for analysis. Clofibrate residues from the feed, wastewater, and urine were analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with minimum detectable levels (MDL) of about 40, 0.5 and 1.0 ppb, respectively. Tibric acid was extracted from animal feed with 90% methanol and 10% 0.1 N NaOH, whereas wastewater and human urine were acidified with 12 N HCl and then extracted with benzene. The MDL for tibric acid in feed by electron capture/gas chromatography (EC/GC) and HPLC were about 40 ppb and 2.0 ppm, respectively. Residues from these extracts that contained more than 5 ppm of tibric acid were analyzed by HPLC, whereas GC was required for levels below 5 ppm. The GC procedures, which required that tibric acid be derivatized (methylated) prior to analysis, had MDL of 0.1 and 1.0 ppb for wastewater and human urine, respectively. Data are also presented concerning partition values, stability of the compounds in animal feed, and recoveries of the compounds from the three substrates.