Thermal degradation of five veterinary and human pharmaceuticals using pyrolysis-GC/MS

- The thermal stability of five pharmaceutically active compounds was investigated using Py-GC/MS.
- A range of degradation products were observed.
- Structures were suggested for each degradation product based on their MS.
- Py-GC/MS is an effective and simple tool to study the thermal degradation of food contaminants.

Veterinary drug residues and, more recently, pharmaceutically active contaminants have been detected in food. In this research, the thermal stability of five pharmaceutically active compounds commonly detected in food (chloramphenicol, florfenicol, lincomycin hydrochloride, diphenhydramine hydrochloride, and carbamazepine) was investigated using Pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). A range of degradation products observed with this technique have been reported earlier with more complex approaches. In addition, chloramphenicol, lincomycin and diphenhydramine were shown to degrade into previously unidentified volatile compounds. These results therefore suggest that Py-GC/MS is an effective and simple technique to study the thermal degradation of food contaminants and to identify their volatile degradation products.