Analyses by UPLC Q-TOF MS of products of aflatoxin B₁ after ozone treatment

Abstract

Analysing the products of ozone-treated aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) is essential in order to study the practical use of ozone treatment. In this paper, the products of AFB₁ were investigated using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Q-TOF MS). The products were well separated using UPLC, and the accurate masses of all the products were determined using Q-TOF MS. Finally, the possible pathways of fragmentation ion generation from the products of AFB₁ and the structures of four products were proposed. From the view of the proposed structures of products, the C8-C9 double bond in the terminal furan ring was destroyed. According to the structure–activity relationship, the toxicity of products was significantly reduced compared with that of AFB₁. The result indicated that ozone was an effective agent for degrading AFB₁, and UPLC Q-TOF MS was a useful analytical tool for proposing and identifying a series of unknown products.

Keywords:

• AFB₁
• ozone
• products
• UPLC Q-TOF MS
• structure

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Special Fund for Agro-Scientific Research in the Public Interest of China [grant numbers 201203037, 201313005 and 200903043-02], Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [grant number JUSRP51302A] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 31171780035, 31101383 and 31201381].