Simultaneous extraction and fractionation and thin layer chromatographic determination of 14 mycotoxins in grains

A simple, systematic analytical method for multiple mycotoxins was developed for detecting 14 mycotoxins; aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2, sterigmatocystin, T-2 toxin, diacetoxyscirpenol, neosolaniol, fusarenon X, zearalenone, ochratoxin A, citrinin, luteoskyrin, and rugulosin. These mycotoxins were extracted with 20% H2SO4-4% KCl-acetonitrile (2 + 20 + 178), defatted with isooctane, and transferred to chloroform. The chloroform extract was cleaned up by silica gel column chromatography; the first 10 toxins were eluted with chloroform-methanol (97 + 3) and the remaining 4 toxins with benzene-acetone-acetic acid (75 + 20 + 5). Each fraction was analyzed by thin layer chromatography for the final determination. The method has been applied to polished rice, rough rice, corn, wheat, and peanuts as an analytical screening procedure. The detection limits in these commodities ranged from 10.00 to 800.0 microgram/kg, depending on the mycotoxin, but all limits were superior to those obtained for the individual mycotoxins by using other methods.