Analysis of fumonisin mycotoxins with capillary electrophoresis – mass spectrometry

ABSTRACT

This paper demonstrates the development of an analytical method based on CE coupled to ESI-MS for the identification and quantification of fumonisin mycotoxins. Separation and detection parameters (pH of background electrolyte (BGE), organic modifier content, sheath liquid (SL) composition, MS mode and nebuliser pressure) were optimised. Ammonium formate/ammonia (pH = 9.5) with 10% ACN modifier was found the most suitable BGE. Positive mode MS was used for detection by scanning the m/z range of 400–1200. Separation was highly affected by the nebuliser pressure, a 25% improvement in peak resolution was achieved by applying the optimised parameters. The ‘dilute and shoot’ approach was applied to overcome disturbing effects caused by the matrix of fungi supernatant samples. The available sample volume affected the reproducibility of the measurements greatly: the scattering of peak intensities were between 4 and 11 RSD% instead of 27–195 RSD% for fumonisin B₁ and fumonisin B₂ when the available volume was ~200 µL instead of ~20 µL. Quantitative determinations were carried out in Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium proliferatum culture supernatant (raw) and mycelium (cleaned up) samples. The optimised method enabled the detection of 11 fumonisins in Fusarium proliferatum inoculated rice samples; 2 of them were quantified based on external calibration and 4 other compounds with fumonisin-like formulas were detected.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Capillary electrophoresis
• CE-MS
• fumonisin
• mass spectrometry
• mycotoxin

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the EU and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the project GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00008, GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00004. The research was also financed by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (Hungary) project K119494, K127931 and by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Program (NKFIH‐1150‐6/2019) of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in Hungary, within the framework of the Biotechnology thematic program of the University of Debrecen.