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Liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry for the identification and determination of trichothecenes in maize
Author(s) -
Laganà Aldo,
Curini Roberta,
D'Ascenzo Giuseppe,
De Leva Ilaria,
Faberi Angelo,
Pastorini Elisabetta
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.1019
Subject(s) - chemistry , chromatography , atmospheric pressure chemical ionization , electrospray ionization , mass spectrometry , formic acid , chemical ionization , solid phase extraction , selected reaction monitoring , tandem mass spectrometry , liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry , detection limit , trichothecene , sample preparation , ammonium acetate , analytical chemistry (journal) , high performance liquid chromatography , mycotoxin , ionization , ion , organic chemistry , food science
A reliable, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method has been developed to determine four trichothecene mycotoxins (nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, fusarenon X and 3‐acetyldeoxynivalenol) in maize. Sample preparation was performed by extracting the analytes with a mixture of acetonitrile and water, followed by a solid‐phase extraction with Carbograph‐4 cartridges as the purification step. For the LC/MS/MS analysis two interfacing systems, Turbo IonSpray (TISP) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), were compared in both negative and positive ion modes. LC and MS parameters were optimized to achieve better results and sensitivity. The effect of mobile phase modifiers such as ammonium acetate and formic acid on the ionization yield was also evaluated. The best results were obtained using the electrospray ionization (ESI) interface in negative ion mode and the multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM) for the quantitation. The detection limits ranged between 10 ng/g for fusarenon X and 1.5 ng/g for deoxynivalenol. A linear working range was achieved with a standard deviation between 3 and 10% and recovery rates from the maize samples above 81%. The procedure was applied to the analysis of a set of maize samples collected from farms located in different areas of northern and central Italy. The investigated samples turned out to be contaminated primarily with deoxynivalenol and, to a minor extent, with its derivatives. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.