Rapid purification method for fumonisin B1 using centrifugal partition chromatography

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) is a highly toxic mycotoxin produced by fungal strains belonging to the Fusarium genus, which can be found mainly in maize products, and is gaining interest in food safety. To produce large amounts of pure FB1, a novel purifying method was developed by using centrifugal partition chromatography, which is a prominent member of the liquid-liquid chromatographic techniques. Rice cultured with Fusarium verticillioides was extracted with a mixture of methanol/water and found to contain 0.87 mg of FB1 per gram. The crude extracts were purified on a strong anion-exchange column and then separated by using a biphasic solvent system consisting of methyl-tert-butyl-ether-acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid in water. The collected fractions were analysed by flow injection-mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with Corona-charged aerosol detector and identified by congruent retention time on high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometric data. This method produced approximately 120 mg of FB1 with a purity of more than 98% from 200 g of the rice culture. The whole purification process is able to produce a large amount of pure FB1 for analytical applications or for toxicological studies.