Determination of melengestrol acetate in feedstuffs with liquid chromatographic preparatory column cleanup and...

Melengestrol acetate (MGA) is determined by liquid chromatography using a fraction from preparatory LC as a means of sample cleanup for feedstuffs, both dry and liquid. Dry ground feed is Soxhlet extracted with hexane and passed through a 2% deactivated alumina column for initial cleanup. The eluate is evaporated, redissolved in methanol, filtered, and injected onto a preparatory LC column. The fraction containing MGA is separated from the remaining matrix, evaporated to dryness, dissolved in methanol, and quantitated by LC analysis. Liquid supplements are extracted in methanol, and the extract is evaporated to near dryness. The residue is diluted with water, extracted with chloroform, passed through sodium sulfate, and evaporated to dryness. The remaining sample is dissolved in methanol prior to preparative LC and quantitative LC. Recoveries for 2 laboratory-fortified commercial feeds, one dry and one liquid, containing 0.39 and 0.40 mg/lb, were 98.3% +/- 4.4 and 95.8% +/- 4.3, respectively. Results compare favorably with existing methods. Up to a 4-fold time savings was realized by this method without automation.