Bonded phase high performance liquid chromatography of spore mycotoxins

Mycotoxins produced by molds are common contaminants of many important crops, including wheat, com, rice and peanuts. Some mycotoxins are found in fruits and vegetables. These contaminants have a broad range of toxic effects, including carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity. The occurrence of mycotoxins in foods is an unavoidable worldwide problem. About 80 countries have imposed regulatory limits to minimize human and animal exposure to mycotoxins. Regulatory limits, including international standards, have tremendous economic impact and must be developed using scientific-based risk assessments. This thesis is focused on the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of mycotoxins. Chapter I is a review of the application of HPLC on the determination of mycotoxins. Two major types of mycotoxins - aflatoxins and trichothecenes are discussed in details. Other mycotoxins are also surveyed. 113 references are cited. Chapter II describes a simple and sensitive method for simultaneous determination of verrucarin A, verrucarol and roridin A. This method was applied to the analysis of a spore mycotoxin sample form Stachybotrys atra. Greatly improved analytical separations resulted from the use a new phenyl-hexyl bonded phase column. Chromatographic and analytical figures of merit are presented. Additional work is also discussed