High pressure liquid chromatographic determination of ethopabate in feeds

A high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is described for determining ethopabate in poultry feeds. Feed samples containing ethopabate are finely ground, extracted 30 min by sonification with methanol-water (80 + 20), and filtered. The extract is cleaned up on an alumina column, and the first 4 ml eluate collected is analyzed. The drug is eluted through a muBondapak C18 column with acetonitrile-water (30 + 70) at a flow rate of 1.4 ml/min and detected by ultraviolet absorption at 280 nm. Chromatography is complete in 7 min, and detector response is linear. The drug is quantitated by peak height ratios. The procedure described is reproducible and shows good agreement with the official AOAC colorimetric method. The lower limit of detection is 2 ng by HPLC, making the method applicable to residue analyses.