Multi-residue determination of anticoagulant rodenticides in vertebrate wildlife and domestic animals using Ultra (High) Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) products are used globally to control rodent pests in domestic, urban, agricultural and industrial environments. However, there is a substantial volume of evidence that non-target vertebrate wildlife i.e. predators and scavengers in particular and other animals, are vulnerable to contamination via direct or indirect routes of exposure. The determination of multiple AR residues in liver tissue samples that can range from remnants of a small bird of prey liver to an intact liver from a large mammal is complicated as residue levels encountered can vary considerably too. So, the utilisation of ultra-sensitive systems has to be carefully considered in order to allow routine application of the method to all sample compositions presented for analysis. The UHPLC–MSMS method described now: • permits quantitative analysis of ultra-low levels of multiple-residues (0.0025–1 mg kg(−1)) in a single experiment. • uses the same U(H)PLC column for the determination of AR and multiple-pesticide residue in similar specimens. • allows higher sample throughput due to shaking rather than tumbling of samples during the extraction procedure.