Establishment of non-targeted screening database and confirmation method for 18 mycotoxins in grains using ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry

A mass spectral library of 18 mycotoxins was developed based on ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS), which was used to establish a non-targeted screening method for mycotoxins in rice and wheat matrices. Eighteen mycotoxin standards were separated on an HSS T3 column, and data were collected for both positive and negative ionization under the MSE mode of the UPLC-Q-TOF/MS. Details including formulas, retention times, theoretical exact masses, measured exact masses of the adduct and fragment ions, and ion abundance ratios were recorded to establish the mass spectral library of the 18 mycotoxins in UNIFI Software. Analyte detection was based on a retention time deviation of 0.3 min, and the exact mass deviation of the adduct ions and fragment ions was set to 5×10-6. The screening detection limit (SDL) was used as the main threshold for verifying the screening method. In the validation process, 18 mycotoxins were classified into two types: with maximum levels (MLs) and without MLs. The results showed that the mycotoxins with MLs could be accurately screened at their limited level, and the mycotoxins without MLs had a range of SDL concentration from 2 to 800 μg/kg. The matrix effect results showed that 14 mycotoxins in rice and 11 in wheat had moderate matrix effects. Finally, 25 batches of rice and wheat were purified using QuEChERS and HLB columns after acetonitrile extraction and screening were performed by employing the established method. The results revealed that aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), aflatoxin G2 (AFG2), fumonisins B1 (FB1), and sterigmatocystin (ST) were detected in one batch of rice, FB1 and ST were detected in another batch of rice, FB1 and ochratoxin A (OTA) were detected in two batches of wheat, and no other mycotoxins were detected. This method is characterized by high throughput, simplicity, rapidity, accuracy, and can be applied to accurately screen mycotoxins with concentrations higher than the SDLs and qualitatively screen various mycotoxins in rice and wheat without standards.