The Impact of Superficially Porous Particles and New Stationary-Phase Chemistries on the LC-MS Determination of Mycotoxins in Food and Feed

Superficially porous particles with their favourable chromatographic properties were a great advance for liquid chromatography (LC). Analytical LC columns packed with those particles allow for much faster separations even with standard LC equipment rated at a maximum pressure of 400 bar. This speed is exemplified by a LC mass spectrometry (MS) method of analysis for four mycotoxins, spanning log P values from -0.7 to 3.6, with an analysis time of just over 8 min and excellent performance. Another issue is the separation of closely related mycotoxins, like 3- and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol. With the common C18 chemistries, they are coeluted and identification and quantification can only be achieved through differing MS MS signals. Now, with the newer pentafluorophenyl chemistries these two mycotoxins can be separated by LC and MS quantification of them has become much more precise.