Determination of bacterial toxin toxoflavin and fervenulin in food and identification of their degradation products

Abstract

A method using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the determination of toxoflavin and fervenulin in 6 types of food.The limits of detection (LODs, S/N ≥ 3) of toxoflavin and fervenulin reached 12 µg/kg and 24 µg/kg, respectively.The recoveries ranged from 70.1 % to 108.7 %.Intra-day RSDs (n = 5) and inter-day RSDs (n = 3) ranged from 0.9 % to 9.5 %.The method was successfully applied to analyse 36 samples, and one Tremella fuciformis Berk. sample was found with 7.5 mg/kg toxoflavin and 3.2 mg/kg fervenulin. Toxoflavin and fervenulin were acidic compounds and easily degraded in 0.1 % ammonia solution (v/v),degradation products were identified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS).

Keywords: Burkholderia; Degradation products; Fervenulin; Toxoflavin; UHPLC-MS/MS; UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS.