Determination of mycotoxins in grain by high-performance liquid chromatography and thermospray liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

An high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for determination of deoxynivalenol, patulin, diacetoxyscirpenol, HT-2-toxin, T-2-toxin, zearalenone and ochratoxin A using a reversed-phase column and a diode-array detector. The extraction and purification steps and optimum chromatographic conditions are described. Detection limits and recoveries from spiked wheat samples were investigated. The combination of the high-performance liquid chromatographic system described together with a modern thermospray quadrupole mass spectrometer is a very specific and sensitive method for analyzing a wide range of mycotoxins in biological samples.