Preliminary assays to elucidate the structure of oxytetracycline’s degradation products in sediments

A very specific high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method for the determination of natural tetracyclines was developed in order to characterise the degradation products of oxytetracycline in sediments. First, extraction used a clean up step with a Bond Elut Certify LRC cartridge. A 3 microm Spherisorb ODS1 column was then used with a methanol, acetonitrile and oxalic acid mobile phase gradient. Chromatographic resolution in these conditions was 3.31 between oxytetracycline and tetracycline. Two liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methodologies based on a particle beam and a frit fast atom bombardment interface were developed. In the first approach, ionisation was performed in the negative chemical mode using methane as reacting gas. In the other case, glycerol-thioglycerol mixture was used as matrix to ensure good sensitivity. MS-MS experiment was performed to determinate oxytetracycline fragmentation pattern in the perspective of degradation product study.