Simultaneous determination of sex hormones in egg products by ZnCl2 depositing lipid, solid-phase extraction and ultra performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A method was developed for simultaneous determination of residues of 17 sex hormones in egg products. Target compounds were extracted from samples with methanol in an ultrasonic bath, effectively separated from lipids in the extracts by ZnCl2 depositing filtration and purified using a C18 solid-phase extraction (SPE) and followed by NH2 SPE cartridge. The analytes were quantified by liquid chromatography using a BEH C18 column coupled to an electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometer (LC–ESI-MS/MS) operating in negative mode for estrogens and in positive multiple reaction monitoring mode for androgens. The parameters of the mass spectrometer and the composition of mobile phase and additives were also optimized to enhance detection sensitivity. Average recoveries of the target compounds varied from 70.0% to 121.0% with relative standard deviations ranging from 2.3% to 11.2% at two fortification levels. The limits of detection (LOD) of the method were from 0.002 μg kg−1 to 0.23 μg kg−1 and the limits of quantification (LOQ) were in the range of 0.007–0.76 μg kg−1.