Determination of the main ergot alkaloids and their epimers in oat-based functional foods by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

  • Acknowledgements: Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (project reference: RTI2018-097043-B-I00). The authors extend their appreciation to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities for granting the Spanish Network of Excellence in Sample preparation (RED2018-102522-T). This article is based upon work from the Sample Preparation Task Force and Network, supported by the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the European Chemical Society.
  • Authors: L. Carbonell-Rozas, L. Gámiz-Gracia, F.J. Lara, A.M. García-Campaña
  • Reference: Molecules 26 (2021) 3717

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry method is proposed for the determination of the major ergot alkaloids (ergometrine, ergosine, ergotamine, ergocornine, ergokryptine, ergocristine) and their epimers (ergometrinine, ergosinine, ergotaminine, ergocorninine, ergokryptinine, and ergocristinine) in oat-based foods and food supplements. A modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) procedure was applied as sample treatment, reducing the consumption of organic solvent and increasing sensitivity. This method involved an extraction with acetonitrile and ammonium carbonate (85:15, v/v) and a clean-up step based on dispersive solid-phase extraction, employing a mixture of C18/Z-Sep+ as sorbents. Procedural calibration curves were established and limits of quantification were below 3.2 μg/kg for the studied compounds. Repeatability and intermediate precision (expressed as RSD%) were lower than 6.3% and 15%, respectively, with recoveries ranging between 89.7% and 109%. The method was applied to oat-based products (bran, flakes, flour, grass, hydroalcoholic extracts, juices, and tablets), finding a positive sample of oat bran contaminated with ergometrine, ergosine, ergometrinine, and ergosinine (total content of 10.7 μg/kg).

This entry was posted in Ergot alkaloids, Mass spectrometry, Mycotoxins, Oat, QuEChERS, RTI2018-097043-B-I00, UHPLC and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.