Environmental & Analytical Toxicology

Extraction and Purification of Aflatoxins in Bagasse for HPLC Fluorescence Determination

Abstract

Yin Min Htun, Hiroyuki Nakagawa and Masayo Kushiro

Using a multifunctional column which consists of lipophilic and charged active sites, a simple extraction and purification method with quick and accurate analysis of aflatoxins (B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂) from sugarcane bagasse was developed by spike and recovery tests. After extraction with a mixture of acetonitrile and water (9+1, v/v) followed by clean-up method through MultiSep #226 multifunctional column (MFC), aflatoxins were detected via high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence (HPLC-FL) analysis. Recovery rates of each aflatoxin B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂ spiked to the bagasse at different levels were 81.5 ± 3.3%, 87.5 ± 0.7%, 80.2 ± 4.3% and 86.4 ± 4.5% in samples spiked with 5 ng AF mix/g, and 83.1 ± 1.2%, 89.4 ± 2.0%, 81.0 ± 4.3% and 87.2 ± 2.1% in samples spiked with 10 ng/g, respectively. It is concluded that this proposed method is applicable for the practical determination of aflatoxins contamination in bagasse.