Miniaturized Analytical Strategy Based on μ-SPEed for Monitoring the Occurrence of Pyrrolizidine and Tropane Alkaloids in Honey
Natalia Casado, Sonia Morante‐Zarcero, Isabel Sierra
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Currently, the analysis of trace-level contaminants in food must be addressed following green analytical chemistry principles and with a commitment to the sustainable development goals. Accordingly, a sustainable and ecofriendly microextraction procedure based on μ-SPEed followed by ultrahigh liquid chromatography coupled to ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry analysis was developed to determine the occurrence of pyrrolizidine and tropane alkaloids in honey samples. The μ-SPEed procedure took approximately 3 min per sample, using only 100 μL of organic solvent and 300 μL of diluted sample. The method was properly validated (overall recoveries 72–100% and precision RSD values ≤15%), and its greenness was scored at 0.61 out of 1. The method was applied to different honey samples, showing overall contamination levels from 32 to 177 μg/kg of these alkaloids. Atropine was found in all the samples, whereas retrorsine N -oxide, lasiocarpine, echimidine, and echimidine N -oxide were the main pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the samples analyzed.