In this study, ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole electrostatic field orbitrap mass spectrometry was used to establish a high-throughput screening method for 20 β -blockers and their metabolites in foods of animal origin. The sensitivity and applicability of the established method were improved by optimizing the instrument and pretreatment conditions. The samples were purified by high speed centrifugation at low temperature, and the compounds were separated by a C8 column. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the compounds were performed in full MS/dd-MS2 (data-dependent MS2) mode. Twenty compounds showed a good linear relationship in the range 0.1-10 μg/L, with correlation coefficients (r2) greater than 0.99. The limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 1 to 5 μg/kg, while the limits of quantification (LOQs) ranged from 2 to 10 μg/kg. The average recoveries were 60.37%-100.84%, with relative standard deviations less than 10%. The method is operationally simple and has good reproducibility and high accuracy, which are essential for β -blockers and metabolite residue screening in foods of animal-origin.
Keywords: foods of animal origin; high-resolution mass spectrometry; high-throughput screening; ultra performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC); β -blockers and metabolite.