Liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric confirmatory method for determining aflatoxin M1 in cow milk

Aflatoxin Measurement and Analysis

“…In this respect, Cavaliere et al demonstrated that the QTrap technology opens a new dimension of MS analyte confirmation and quantification. Its operation in the quadrupole linear ion trap configuration (enhanced product ion scans) produces complete product ions mass spectra even close to the LOQ which guarantees accurate analyte quantification simultaneously to unambiguous analyte confirmation (Cavaliere et al, 2006). Cavaliere et al compared the calibration curves set up in standard solution and in sample matrix and found close similarity of both slopes, proving that the influence of matrix components on the analyte signal was negligible and matrix effects could be excluded.…”

“…They attributed this observation to severe matrix effects that are not compensated by the applied internal standard AFM1 and by a calibration curve set up in standard solution (Vahl & Jrgensen, 1998). Besides, Blesa et al demonstrated in peanut samples that LC/MS is less sensitive than LC-FL (Blesa et al, 2003) though this can be partly explained by the use of single quadrupole instrumentation in the SIM mode that is inferior to a tandem MS and SRM recording (Cavaliere et al, 2006;Vahl et al, 1998).…”

“…According to recent investigations, autospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) seems to be a more reliable alternative to ESI. Since this interface offers strikingly lower levels of chemical noise and ion suppression than ESI it was found to be two to three times more sensitive (Cavaliere et al, 2006). The product ion spectra of the protonated aflatoxin species contain a number of abundant product ions reflecting bond cleavages and rearrangement reactions of the polycyclic ring system along with loss of water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide (Cavaliere et al, 2006).…”

“…Since this interface offers strikingly lower levels of chemical noise and ion suppression than ESI it was found to be two to three times more sensitive (Cavaliere et al, 2006). The product ion spectra of the protonated aflatoxin species contain a number of abundant product ions reflecting bond cleavages and rearrangement reactions of the polycyclic ring system along with loss of water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide (Cavaliere et al, 2006). Despite this favorable fragmentation behaviour, only the quantitative single stage of LC-MS can not meet the EU criteria concerning unambiguous compound identification in residue analysis (Zllner & Mayer-Helm, 2006).…”

“…HPLC-ESI-MS/MS has become the most emerging analytical tool for the determination of aflatoxins and their metabolites (Cavaliere et al, 2007;Sulyok et al, 2010;Huang et al, 2010). Single quadrupole mass spectrometer (Nonaka et al, 2009) and ion-trap mass spectrometer (Cavaliere et al, 2006) were also used in the determination aflatoxins. LC-MS provides decisive advantages in performing identification as well as determination of analytes at trace levels.…”