An optosensing device for detecting tetracyclineantibiotics in honey

Abstract

Here we describe a simple solid phase fluorescence method for measuring tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) in honey. The device consists of an LED, a cartridge holder, and a photo-diode detector. A 5 g portion of honey was extracted with acetonitrile. To obtain acceptable cleanliness levels, the extract was cleaned up with two successive solid phase extraction steps using a cation exchanger and a reversed-phase resin. TCs in the clean-up solution were selectively adsorbed to a sulfobetaine resin. The resin was washed and irradiated with near UV, resulting in the emission of visible light. When honey samples were spiked with TC at a concentration of 0.3 μg g⁻¹, the recovery was 90% with a RSD of 19% (n = 14). The system provides a simple, rapid and quantitative analysis of antibiotics in honey samples within 30 min.