Ionic liquid functionalized zinc oxide nanorods for solid-phase microextraction of aflatoxins in food products

Aflatoxins (AFs) in food and agricultural products pose serious health hazards to consumers. As a result, exports are restricted and farmers lose much needed income. One major challenge faced in controlling AFs in developing countries in particular is lack of simple and cost-effective methods of analysis. To address this problem, a solidphase microextraction (SPME) technique was developed based on 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate functionalized zinc oxide nanorods for the extraction of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 in food products prior to HPLC analysis. The SPME was performed using 10 mg of the adsorbent at pH 7 and vortexing for 1 min at 500 rpm, and desorbed by sonication for 2 min in 1 mL acetonitrile. The technique showed excellent linearity (correlation coefficients, >= 0.997). LOD and LOQ were determined respectively to be 0.07 and 0.73 mu g/ kg for AFB1, 0.01 and 0.12 mu g/kg for AFB2, 0.04 and 0.44 mu g/kg for AFG1 and 0.02 and 0.18 mu g/kg for AFG2. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were in the ranges of 3.9-4.7% and 6.9-8.4%, respectively. The acquired recovery of blank samples of the pepper and groundnut samples spiked with mixed analytes at 5 and 10 mu g/kg spiking levels were in the range of 88.6-99.8%. The SPME was employed for the analysis of the considered analytes from real chili pepper and processed groundnut samples. Overall, the technique is easy, fast, cost-effective and environmentally friendly and can be used for the analysis of AFs in various food and agricultural products.