A procedure is described for the determination of three characteristic beta-agonists (clenbuterol, terbutalin and salbutamol) based on the formation of the corresponding protonated molecules and related collisional experiments. Quantification was carried out on selected collisional fragments and the reproducibility of the relative abundances of these fragments was estimated. The performance of the method was tested on bovine urine samples spiked at the lowest level of 0.2 ng ml(-1) in each of the chosen compounds.
Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.