Simultaneous determination of aflatoxins B2 and G2 in peanuts using spectrofluorescence coupled with parallel factor analysis Original Research Article

In the present study a method for the simultaneous determination of aflatoxins B2 and G2 in peanuts has been developed. The method uses second order standard addition method and excitation–emission fluorescence data together with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). The aflatoxin analysis was based on extraction with methanol–water and carried out using immunoaffinity clean-up. The results of PARAFAC on a set of spiked and naturally contaminated peanuts indicated that the two aflatoxins could be successfully determined. The method was validated and analytical figures of merit were obtained for both analytes. The limits of detection (LOD) were 0.05 and 0.04 μg kg−1 for aflatoxins B2 and G2, respectively. The limits of quantification (LOQ) were 0.16 and 0.12 μg kg−1 for aflatoxins B2 and G2, respectively. Coupling of spectrofluorimetry with PARAFAC can be considered as an alternative method for quantification of aflatoxins in the presence of unknown interferences obtained through analysis of highly complex matrix of peanuts samples at a reduced cost per analysis.