A novel method for the determination of copper 8-quinolinolate by ultra-performance liquid chromatography（UPLC） was developed.The sample was extracted with 4% acetic acid solution and cleaned up with a Cleanert PCX cartridge.The cartridge was eluted with 1% ammonium acetate-methanol.The elution was evaporated to near dryness under a stream of nitrogen,and dissolved by mobile phase.The target compound was separated on a Vneusil MP C18 column（150 mm×4.6 mm，5 μm） using 0.1% TFA-acetonitrile（95∶5） as mobile phase.The method had a good linear correlation（r≥0.999 9 ）in the range of 0.05-10 μg／mL.The average recoveries of copper 8-quinolinolate at a spiked range of 0.05-2.0 mg／kg were in the range of 72.3%-84.1% with relative standard deviations（RSDs）of 2.1%-3.8%.The limit of detection（LOD） was 0.024 mg／kg.