High-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for simultaneous detection of aflatoxins B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂ in Indian medicinal herbs using QuEChERS-based extraction procedure

ABSTRACT

Since the discovery of aflatoxins (AFs) in the 1960s, much research has focused on detecting the toxins in contaminated food and feedstuffs. But the quality determination in medicinal plant matrices with respect to AFs is scare. Hence, a simple, accurate and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed for simultaneous determination of AFs AFB₁, AFB₂, AFG₁ and AFG₂ in two Indian popular medicinal herbs i.e. senna (Cassia angustifolia) and kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata). AFs have been extracted from herb matrix using a QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe)-based extraction procedure followed by applying primary secondary amine and C18 for further clean-up step and then were quantified under the multiple reaction monitoring together with positive ionisation modes. Matrix-matched calibration was used for quantification in order to reduce the matrix effect. Validation of the method was carried out in herbs by recovery experiments. Recoveries of the spiked samples were in the range of 61.9–111.5% with an inter-day and intraday relative standard deviation lower than 20.0%. Limits of detection and quantification ranged from 0.41 to 0.95 ng mL⁻¹ and 1.2 to 3.8 μg kg⁻¹, respectively. The expanded uncertainty of the method was <21% for all the toxins in both the herbs. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine AF residues in real field samples of senna and kalmegh obtained from different locations in India.

KEYWORDS:

• Aflatoxins
• Cassia angustifolia
• Andrographis paniculata
• LC–MS/MS
• QuEChERS

Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research (DMAPR), Anand, from its institutional research grant. The authors express their sincere thanks and gratitude to the Director, ICAR-DMAPR, for providing all the facilities for the study. The authors are thankful to Dr. Smitha G R, Scientist, ICAR-DMAPR for providing aflatoxins standard materials.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been funded by ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research (DMAPR), Anand, from its institutional research grant.