Gas chromatography: mass spectrometry determination of trichothecene mycotoxins in commercial corn harvested in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

The incidence of deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), and toxins T-2 (T2) and HT-2 (HT2) in 80 samples of commercial corn harvested in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. They were collected in the silos of the two largest corn farmer's cooperatives of this state. The samples were extracted with water/acetonitrile and cleaned-up with MycoSep columns. After trifluoroacetic anhydride derivatization the samples were submitted to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Detection limits ranged from 10 ng g-1 to 40 ng g-1. NIV was present in 5 samples and DON and NIV occurred simultaneously in one sample. DAS, T2 and HT2 were not detected. This is the first report that shows the prevalence of NIV over DON in corn harvested in Brazil.

Keywords

• corn
• GC-MS
• trichothecenes
• deoxynivalenol
• nivalenol