Simultaneous detection of A and B trichothecenes by gas chromatography with flame ionization or mass selective detection

A clean-up cartridge consisting of ammonium sulfate, celite, alumina, charcoal and C18 was developed for the simultaneous detection of A and B type trichothecenes, namely 4,15-diacetoxy-scirpenol, T2-toxin, deoxynivalenol (DON) and nivalenol (NIV). After derivatization with N,N-dimethyl-trimethylsilyl-carbamate, the purified extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography with flame ionization (GC-FID) or mass selective detection (GC-MSD). Using this cartridge, no further sample clean-up steps are required that makes the developed method time and cost effective. The method is easy to implement; no special experience or instrumentation is required. The limits of detection in semolina and corn grits ranged from 0.30 to 0.47 mg kg⁻¹ for GC-FID and from 0.05 to 0.35 mg kg⁻¹ for GC-MSD. Corn gluten feed (CGF) samples were analyzed as well, for 4,15-diacetoxy-scirpenol and T2 toxin, with a limit of detection of 0.23 and 0.14 mg kg⁻¹, respectively.