Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of decoquinate (DEC) residue in chicken meat. The sample was extracted with acetonitrile, cleaned-up with hexane, and purified with solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. The mobile phase was acetonitrile (containing 0.1% formic acid) and water (containing 0.1% formic acid). The analyte was identified by positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) mode and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The results showed as follows: The calibration curve showed good linearity within the concentrations of 1~200 μg/L with the correlation coefficient (r2)＞0.99. At the spiked levels of 1, 10 and 100 μg/kg, the recoveries of DEC were 78.2%~107.4%. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of intra- and inter-days were both less than 15%. The limit of detection of DEC was 0.25 μg/kg and the limit of quantification was 0.5 μg/kg. The method is simple, sensitive and accurate in the determination of DEC residue, which can meet the requirements of the domestic and international legislations.

Key words: chicken meat, decoquinate, residue, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)