Extraction of aflatoxins from food samples using graphene-based magnetic nanosorbents followed by high-performance liquid chromatography: a simple solution to overcome the problems of immunoaffinity columns.

In this research, magnetic graphene nanoparticles were prepared and used as adsorbents for preconcentrating the aflatoxins in rice, wheat, and sesame samples. For this purpose, graphene was synthesized by Hummer's method. Magnetically modified graphene formed by the deposition of magnetite (Fe3O4) on graphene was used for the separation of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 from the samples. The extractants were subsequently analyzed with high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection. Parameters affecting the efficiency of the method were thoroughly investigated. The measurements were done under the optimized conditions. For aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2, limits of detection were 0.025, 0.05, 0.05, and 0.075 ng/g and limits of quantification were 0.083, 0.16, 0.16, and 0.23 ng/g, respectively. Accuracy was examined by the determination of the relative recovery of the aflatoxins. The relative recovery of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 were quite satisfactory (between 64.38 and 122.21% for food samples). Relative standard deviations for within laboratory repeatability (n = 6) were in the range from 1.3 to 3.2. The application of this sorbent for the separation and concentration of the mentioned aflatoxins from food samples was examined.