SIMULTANEOUS THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETERMINATION OF ZEARALENONE AND PATULIN IN MAIZE

A method has been developed for the determination of zearalenone and patulin in maize. The compounds are isolated from the samples by extraction and further cleaned by silica gel column chromatography prior to separation on silica gel layers developed firstly with isooctane and then with chloroform - acetone (18 + 1, v/v). The chromatogram is scanned in situ in fluorescence - reflectance mode at lambda = 313 nm for zearalenone and in absorbance - reflectance mode at lambda = 275 nm for patulin. Ouantification is performed using external standard calibration, the calibration curves for both compounds being linear over the range 5 to 75 ng per spot with correlation coefficients > 0.99. The detection limits for the two compounds are below 3 ng/spot and the relative standard deviation of the measurements less than 15% for quantities below 300 ng. The average recoveries of the method for the two compounds are greater than 80.0% for quantities between ca 70 and ca 300 ng. The method has been successfully used for the determination of zearalenone and patulin in maize and other grain crops.