Detection of new emerging type-A trichothecenes by untargeted mass spectrometry.

Mycotoxins occur naturally as agricultural contaminants all over the world. The toxic effects of some of their metabolites are known and their presence regulated in food and feed. This paper describes two methods for the detection of toxins of type-A trichothecenes group, and their modified forms, using mass spectrometry. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry-ion trap-time of flight (UPLC-MS-IT-TOF) was employed to characterize the fragmentation pathways of 10 type-A trichothecenes, and characteristic ions were tentatively identified in scan mode through their accurate masses. Unknown signals were detected in a F. sporotrichioides extract, which afterwards were identified as seven modified forms of neosolaniol (NEO) and T-2 toxin. Then, UPLC coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was employed to develop a precursor ion scanning method that can be used as a screening tool to detect any modified type-A trichothecenes.