Simultaneous high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of monensin, narasin and salinomycin in feeds using post-column derivatisation

Abstract

A method for the separation and quantitation of monensin, narasin and salinomycin in animal feeds is described. The ionophores are extracted using methanol and separated using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, Post-column reaction with vanillin is carried out in order to detect and quantitate them. The method has been optimised with respect to sensitivity and extraction efficiency and can be used to detect both contamination and medication levels. The detection limit of the assay is 0.25 mg kg^–1 for monensin and 0.5 mg kg^–1 for narasin and salinomycin. Recoveries range from 95 to 108%.