Rapid simultaneous determination of major type A- and B-trichothecenes as well as zearalenone in maize by high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

A novel method for the simultaneous determination of the Fusarium mycotoxins nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, fusarenon-X, 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, the sum of 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, diacetoxy-scirpenol, HT-2 toxin, T-2 toxin and zearalenone in maize has been developed using gradient RP-LC with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC–APCI–MS/MS). Swift clean-up of maize samples was performed with MycoSep® #226 columns. Quantification of zearalenone was performed with zearalanone as internal standard (IS), while no IS was used for the trichothecenes. Detection of the mycotoxins was carried out in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Method performance characteristics were estimated after analysis of spiked blank maize samples. Calibration curves were linear between 10 and 1000 μg/kg and the limits of detection ranged from 0.3 to 3.8 μg/kg depending on the mycotoxin. Moreover, the accuracy of the method was confirmed by comparing analytical data to certified values from reference materials for deoxynivalenol and zearalenone.