Fabric phase sorptive extraction for the fast isolation of sulfonamides residues from raw milk followed by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

•Fabric phase sorptive extraction–HPLC method developed for sulfonamides in milk.•Protein precipitation from the milk sample was found redundant.•FPSE eliminated protein precipitation step and simplified milk sample preparation.•Sol–gel short-chain PEG sorbent provides efficient extraction of sulfonamides.•FPSE offers simplified approach to routinely monitor sulfa drugs in milk samples.

Fabric phase sorptive extraction (FPSE) is a novel sample preparation technique which utilizes advanced material properties of sol–gel derived microextraction sorbents and the hydrophilic property of the cellulose fabric substrate, resulting in a highly sensitive and fast microextraction device, capable of extracting target analyte(s) from any complex aqueous sample matrices. Due to the low organic solvent consumption, FPSE meets all green analytical chemistry (GAC) criteria. This technique was applied, for the first time, for the determination of sulfonamides residues in milk using a highly polar sol–gel poly(ethylene glycol) (sol–gel PEG) coated FPSE media. The developed HPLC method was validated according to the European Union Decision 2002/657/EC. Decision limit (CCα) values were 116.5 μg kg−1 for sulfamethazine, 114.4 μg kg−1 for sulfisoxazole and 94.7 μg kg−1 for sulfadimethoxine, whereas the corresponding results for detection capability (CCβ) were 120.4 μg kg−1 for sulfamethazine, 118.5 μg kg−1 for sulfisoxazole and 104.1 μg kg−1 for sulfadimethoxine.