Scientific Study

RATIONALE: Aflatoxins are poisonous and cancer-related chemical compounds commonly existed in crops and plants. Aflatoxin B1 is the most toxic compound among aflatoxins and has been classified as Group 1 carcinogenic to human, especially on liver cancer. Herein, an ambient mass spectrometric method was developed for rapid characterization of trace aflatoxin B1 on peanuts. METHODS: Direct electrospray probe tandem mass spectrometry was used to detect aflatoxin B1 on peanuts. To avoid the matrix effect, the aflatoxin B1 in the samples was extracted and concentrated by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction. The mass spectrometer was operated in the positive ion mode to monitor intact molecular ion (m/z 313, MH+ ) and daughter ion (m/z 241) of aflatoxin B1 using multiple reaction monitoring. RESULTS: Since no clean up procedure of the sample was required, the sampling step, and the subsequent mass spectrometric detection of the aflatoxin B1 was completed less than 5 minutes. The limit-of-detection of aflatoxin B1 is at sub-ppb level. The results obtained by direct electrospray probe tandem mass spectrometry were also validated by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Recovery of aflatoxin B1 in the sample was evaluated by analyzing spiked aflatoxin B1 with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to be 85% and direct electrospray probe tandem mass spectrometry to be 84%. CONCLUSION: The direct electrospray probe tandem mass spectrometry combined with a simple dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction procedure was successfully used for the quantitative analysis of AFB1 in nut samples. Due to its highly efficient feature, it is promising in providing important toxicological information for food safety in real world.