- Acknowledgements: This research Project PID2021-1278040BI00 was funded by Spanish MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033, and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. PROYEXCEL_00195 was funded by Consejería de Universidad, Investigación e Innovación, Junta de Andalucía. RCM thanks the predoctoral contract from Project PID2021-1278040B-I00. Thanks to the support of ʺNational Network for Sustainable Sample preparationʺ (RED2022-134079-T).
- Authors: R. Carmona-Molero, L. Carbonell-Rozas, A.M. García-Campaña, M. del Olmo-Iruela, F.J. Lara.
- Reference: Toxins 17 (2025) 63.
Cyanobacteria are an ancient group of prokaryotes capable of oxygenic photosynthesis. Recently, thermal crises symptoms in hot springs have been associated with acute cyanopeptides poisoning. The aim of this work is to develop a fast, easy and reliable method to monitor the presence of toxic cyanopeptides in geothermal waters. The analytical method based on capillary zone electrophoresis coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (CZE-MS/MS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of 14 cyanopeptides in less than 7.5 min. A basic 50 mM ammonium acetate buffer at pH 10.2 was selected as the background electrolyte, positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) was employed for all compounds, and a salting-out assisted liquid–liquid extraction (SALLE) protocol with acetonitrile as an extraction solvent and MgSO4 as an auxiliary salting-out agent was optimized as sample treatment. Six natural hot springs in the province of Granada (Andalucía, Spain) were sampled at the beginning of the summer season (June) and at the end (September). Biomass collected at two sample points (Santa Fe and Zújar) contained cyanobacteria cells from the genera Phormidium, Leptolyngbya, and Spirulina. Nevertheless, cyanotoxins covered by this work were not found in any of the water samples analyzed. The greenness and transferability of the method was evaluated highlighting its sustainability and applicability.
