Determination of chloramphenicol residues in animal feeds by liquid chromatography with photo-diode array detection

A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method with photo-diode array detection is presented for use in the determination of chloramphenicol. A new amide-based stationary phase prevents the interaction of the analyte with the residual silanol groups, thus avoiding the appearance of tailed peaks. Specificity was demonstrated by the retention characteristics, UV spectra and peak purity index. Linearity, precision, recovery and sensitivity were satisfactory. The procedure was applied to the analysis of residual chloramphenicol in different types of animal feed. Samples were extracted by using liquid–liquid extraction steps with organic solvents and, for the clean-up, solid-phase extraction using cartridges was applied. Detection limit in the samples using the proposed procedure was 0.7 μg kg−1.