Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the separation of conjugated and unconjugated 17α- and 17β-boldenone in urine sample

Natural occurrence or illegal treatment of boldenone (BOLD) presence in cattle urine is under debate within the European Union. Separation of conjugated and unconjugated forms of 17α-boldenone (α-BOLD) and 17β-boldenone (β-BOLD) and presence of related molecules as androsta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione (ADD) appear critical points for the decision of an illegal use. The aim of this study is a new analytical approach of BOLD and ADD confirmation in cattle urine. The separation between conjugated and unconjugated forms of BOLD was obtained by a preliminary urine liquid-liquid extraction step with ethyl acetate. In this step the organic phase extracts only unconjugated BOLD and ADD, while BOLD in conjugated form remain in urine phase. Afterwards the urine phase, contains conjugated BOLD, was subjected to an enzymatic deconjugation. Solid-phase extraction (OASIS-HLB Waters) was used for the purification and concentration of analytes in organic and urine phases and liquid chromatography ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) was applied for the confirmation of BOLD and ADD, using deuterium-labelled 17β-boldenone (BOLD-d3) as internal standard. The method was validated as a quantitative confirmatory method according to the Commission Decision 2002/657/CE. The results obtained demonstrate that the developed method show very high specificity, precision, trueness and ruggedness. Decision limits (CCα) smaller than 0.5 ng mL-1 were obtained for each analyte