[Recent advances in the determination methods of aflatoxins]

Aflatoxins are very harmful pollutants generally existing in peanuts, corns, farm products and so on. Many methods for the determination of aflatoxins have been developed in recent thirty years. The limits for aflatoxins have been set down for foods and farm products in different countries successively. In China, the methods for the determination of aflatoxins in foods cannot meet the need of new limit regulations. Aflatoxins were found in some traditional Chinese medicines according to some literatures. But the detective method and standard for the determination of aflatoxins is not established in active pharmacopoeia. The analytical methods for aflatoxins have been summarized in this paper, which can provide the references to the researchers who are engaged in the determination of aflatoxins in traditional Chinese medicines and foods. This paper mainly focuses on the liquid chromatography method with immunoaffinity column cleanup using post-column derivatization system for aflatoxins. Aflatoxins can be adsorbed in the immunoaffinity column peculiarly on the basis of this method, and then they can be eluted with organic solvent. It is the best way for cleanup using immunoaffinity column for the determination of aflatoxins in traditional Chinese medicines. This HPLC method with fluorescence detector using post-column derivatization system is a commonly used method in different countries, and it is more sensitive and accurate. Our studies have also proved that this method, that is: the liquid chromatography methods with immunoaffinity column cleanup using post-column derivatization system for aflatoxins, is the best method, which is suitable for the determination of aflatoxins in traditional Chinese medicines.