One-step solid-phase extraction cleanup and fluorometric analysis of deoxynivalenol in grains

A rapid, quantitative, inexpensive, efficient method was developed to determine deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat, barley, corn, wheat middlings, wheat flour, bran, malted barley, and oats. Samples are ground and extracted with acetonitrile-water (86 + 14). A portion of the extract is cleaned up by passage through a MycoSep No. 225 column, evaporated to dryness, and derivatized with zirconyl nitrate and ethylenediamine in methanol. The resulting fluorescent derivative of DON is identified and quantitated with a calibrated fluorometer containing a broad wavelength pulsed xenon light source. This method quantitated DON concentrations from 0.5 to 50 ppm without dilution and was linear when applied to samples of noncontaminated wheat spiked at 0.5, 5, 10, 25, and 50 micrograms DON/g. Correlation coefficients of the method with LC for multiple analyses (n > or = 14 for each commodity) applied to wheat, corn, barley, wheat flour, and wheat middlings were 0.99, 0.99, 0.99, 0.93, and 0.98, respectively. Individual analyses were conducted in < 30 min, and 24 samples were analyzed in 2 h.