Untargeted screening of sulfonamides and their metabolites in salmon using liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry

- A new strategy for untargeted screening of sulfonamides and metabolites.
- Developed a novel fully non-targeted data acquisition method.
- The purification protocol using automated on-line QuEChERS extraction procedure.
- Validation of the assay according to guidelines for qualitative approaches.

An analytical method for the non-target screening of sulfonamides and metabolites in salmon was developed, using automated on-line extraction procedure followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC Q-Orbitrap), including three systematic workflows (i) fully non-targeted data acquisition with fragmentation, (ii) suspect library spectra searching followed by characteristic structural fragments filtering and (iii) confirmation of non-target analytes and structural characterization of unknown analytes based on the availability of reference standards. The estimated performance characteristics were satisfactory complying with the requirements of the guidelines specified in European Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. Four untargeted compounds were identified and confirmed from salmon samples of different origin taken from monitoring control program.