Determination of quinolone antibiotics in honey by pH-induced natural deep eutectic solvent combined with vortex-assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction

Abstract

A green, fast, and efficient pH-induced natural deep eutectic solvent combined with vortex-assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method (pH-NADES-VA-DLLME) followed by HPLC was established for determination of ofloxacin (OFL), ciprofloxacin (CIP) and enrofloxacin (ENR) in honey. In this method, NaOH, as an emulsifier, can increase the contact area between the NADES and the sample solution, which can efficiently improve the extraction efficiency of the analytes. Moreover, HCl acts as the phase separation agent without centrifugation in the process, which can greatly enhance the efficiency of the sample analysis process. In addition, the main factors affecting the extraction effect were optimized by single factor experiments. Under the optimal conditions, the limits of detection (LODs), the limits of quantification (LOQs) and recoveries were in the range of 0.004–0.015 μg mL⁻¹, 0.012–0.050 μg mL⁻¹, and 98.0–112.5%, respectively. The RSD values of intra-day and inter-day precisions were no more than 5.5% and 6.0%, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to determine the three quinolone antibiotics in honey.