Quantitative analysis of Fusarium mycotoxins in maize using accelerated solvent extraction before liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

A method for the simultaneous quantitative determination of deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisin B1 (FB1) and zearalenone (ZEN) in maize by liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-APCIMS/MS), using stable isotopically labelled and structural analogues internal standards, is described. The procedure involves accelerated solvent extraction followed by two solid-phase clean-up steps on strong anion exchange resin and a Mycosep column. Typical recoveries were calculated by spiking blank maize at three different concentrations for deoxynivalenol (200, 400 and 1000 microg kg(-1)) at 70%, for fumonisin B1 (100, 200 and 1000 microg kg(-1)) at 90%, and for zearalenone (50, 100 and 200 microg kg(-1)) at 40%. LC-APCIMS/MS analyses were realized in collision-induced dissociation on an ion-trap instrument to provide a high degree of selectivity and sensitivity. Extraction of ions from two transition reactions, monitored by LC-APCIMS/MS for each analyte, enabled a limit of detection for DON, FB1 and ZEN at, respectively, 10, 20 and 3 microg kg(-1), and a limit of quantification at, respectively, 50, 50 and 10 microg kg(-1). The robustness of the method was also evaluated with the analysis of wheat samples.