title: Cleanup procedure for determination of aflatoxins in major agricultural commodities by liquid chromatography.
abstract: A simple, fast, reliable, and inexpensive chemical cleanup procedure was developed for quantitation of aflatoxins in major important agricultural commodities by liquid chromatography (LC). Aflatoxins were extracted from a ground sample with methanol-water (80 + 20, v/v), and after a single cleanup step on a minicolumn packed with basic aluminum oxide, they were quantitated by LC equipped with a C18 column, photochemical reactor, and fluorescence detector. Water-methanol-1-butanol (1,400 + 720 + 25, v/v/v) served as the mobile phase. Recoveries of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 from peanuts spiked at 5.0, 2.5, 7.5, and 2.5 microg/kg were 87.2 +/- 2.3, 82.0 +/- 0.8, 80.0 +/- 1.8, and 80.4 +/- 2.8%, respectively. Similar recoveries, precision, and accuracy were achieved for corn, cottonseed, almonds, Brazil nuts, pistachios, and walnuts. The quantitation limit for aflatoxin B1 was 1 microg/kg. The minimal cost of the minicolumn allows for substantial savings compared with available commercial aflatoxin cleanup devices.
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, National Peanut Research Laboratory, Dawson, GA 31742, USA. vsobolev@nprl.usda.gov
authors.forename: Victor S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Sobolev
authors.forename: Joe W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Dorner
mesh_terms: D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000032:analysis*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination
chemical_list: D000348:Aflatoxins