HPLC-MS/MS Determination of 4 Aflatoxins in Edible Areca-Nut

The crushed areca-nut sample of 2.00 g was extracted with acetonitrile of 20 mL, and the extracte was cleaned up by dispersive solid phase extraction with 100 mg of N-propylethylenediamine as purificant. Thermo Accucore aQ C₁₈ column was used as stationary phase, and the mixture of 0.005 mol·L^-1 ammonium acetate solution and acetonitrile was used as mobile phase for gradient elution. Four aflatoxins in the supernatant were determined by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The electrospray ion source and the multi reaction monitoring mode were adopted in MS analysis. As shown by the results, linear relationships between values of peak area and mass concentration of the 4 aflatoxins were found in the same range of 0.1-10.0 μg·L^-1, with lower limits of determination (10S/N) of 1 μg·kg^-1. Test for recovery by standard addition method was made on the base of edible areca-nut sample, giving results in the range of 80.0%-99.2%, and RSDs (n=6) ranged from 1.5% to 9.3%.