TY - JOUR

T1 - A novel magnetic molecular imprinted polymer for selective extraction of zearalenone from cereal flours before liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry determination

AU - Cavaliere, Chiara

AU - Antonelli, Michela

AU - Cerrato, Andrea

AU - La Barbera, Giorgia

AU - Laganà, Aldo

AU - Laus, Michele

AU - Piovesana, Susy

AU - Capriotti, Anna Laura

N1 - (Ekstern)

PY - 2019/9

Y1 - 2019/9

N2 - Zearalenone (ZEN) is a nonsteroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by various Fusarium species and commonly occurring in corn and other cereals. Even though its acute toxicity is low, still the estrogenic activity of ZEN and metabolites is a matter of concern. In this work, a new magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (mMIP) for the selective extraction of ZEN from cereal flours is presented. The mMIP was synthesized previously using quercetin as dummy template, and here we wanted to test its applicability to complex food samples. Analyte determination was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The selectivity of the mMIP and the main validation method parameters were assessed. In particular, even in samples as complex as cereals, matrix effect was negligible. Although the mMIP showed cross-selectivity towards both ZEN-related and quercetin-related compounds, nonetheless ZEN recovery was > 95% for the two lower spiking levels, and the quantification limit was 0.14 ng g−1, i.e., ca. 500 times lower than the maximum limit fixed for most cereals by European law. Therefore, the material, also in comparison with a commercial sorbent, appears suitable for the application in food analysis, also to isolate ZEN at trace levels.

AB - Zearalenone (ZEN) is a nonsteroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by various Fusarium species and commonly occurring in corn and other cereals. Even though its acute toxicity is low, still the estrogenic activity of ZEN and metabolites is a matter of concern. In this work, a new magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (mMIP) for the selective extraction of ZEN from cereal flours is presented. The mMIP was synthesized previously using quercetin as dummy template, and here we wanted to test its applicability to complex food samples. Analyte determination was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The selectivity of the mMIP and the main validation method parameters were assessed. In particular, even in samples as complex as cereals, matrix effect was negligible. Although the mMIP showed cross-selectivity towards both ZEN-related and quercetin-related compounds, nonetheless ZEN recovery was > 95% for the two lower spiking levels, and the quantification limit was 0.14 ng g−1, i.e., ca. 500 times lower than the maximum limit fixed for most cereals by European law. Therefore, the material, also in comparison with a commercial sorbent, appears suitable for the application in food analysis, also to isolate ZEN at trace levels.

KW - Dispersive solid-phase extraction

KW - Dummy template

KW - Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

KW - Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers

KW - Sample preparation

KW - Zearalenone

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071618859&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/toxins11090493

DO - 10.3390/toxins11090493

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31461866

AN - SCOPUS:85071618859

VL - 11

JO - Toxins

JF - Toxins

SN - 2072-6651

IS - 9

M1 - 493

ER -