Development of a microwave-assisted-extraction-based method for the determination of aflatoxins B1, G1, B2, and G2 in grains and grain products

This article describes the use of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) as a pretreatment technique for the determination of aflatoxins B-1, G(1), B-2, and G(2) in grains and grain products. The optimal operation parameters, including extraction solvent, temperature, and time, were identified to be acetonitrile as the extraction solvent at 80 A degrees C with 15 min of MAE. The extracts were cleaned up using solid-phase extraction followed by derivatization with trifluoroacetic acid and were determined by liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection. A Sep-Pak cartridge was chosen over Oasis HLB and Bond Elut cartridges. By the use of aflatoxin M-1 as an internal standard, relative recoveries of the aflatoxins ranged from 90.7 to 105.7 % for corn and from 88.1 to 103.4 % for wheat, with relative standard deviations between 2.5 and 8.7 %. A total of 36 samples from local markets were analyzed, and aflatoxin B-1 was found to be the predominant toxin, with concentrations ranging from 0.42 to 3.41 mu g/kg.