SIMULTANEOUS DETECTION OF TYPE A AND TYPE B TRICHOTHECENES IN CEREALS BY LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY COUPLED WITH ELECTROSPRAY IONIZATION QUADRUPOLE TIME OF FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETRY (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS)

Abstract

A new method based on Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) technique followed by liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS) was developed for the determination of eight(8) type-A and type-B trichothecenes in cereal samples. The quantification of the analytes was measured by performing low-energy collision induced tandem mass spectrometry (CID-MS/MS) using the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. This method excludes the use of dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE) extraction cleanup step to reduce time and cost of analysis. Type-A trichothecenes were ionized in the positive ion mode and type-B trichothecenes in the negative ion mode. The recoveries of fortified cereal samples ranged from 61.9% to 110.9%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were lower than the acceptable 12% in all the cases. The detection limits (S/N = 3) of type-A and type-B trichothecenes were 6.1–8.3 and 12.5–18.7 µg/kg, respectively.

Keywords:

• cereals
• liquid chromatography
• mycotoxins
• QTOFMS
• QuEChERS
• trichothecenes

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to acknowledge the University of Malaya for financial support through the Grant No. PS362/2009C to undertake this research project.

Notes

^a Recovery ± RSD (%).

^b Mean recovery value is <25%.

^a Numerical values are given in the order quantifier/qualifier.