Fast methods for screening of trichothecenes in fungal cultures using gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

The paper presents a fast method for trichothecene profiling and chemotaxonomic studies in species of Fusarium, Stachybotrys, Trichoderma and Memnoniella. Micro scale extracted crude Fusarium extracts were derivatised using pentafluoropropionic anhydride and analysed by gas chromatography with simultaneous full scan and tandem mass spectrometric detection. It was possible to monitor for up to four compounds simultaneous, making detection of acetyl T-2 toxin, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, T-2 triol, T-2 tetraol, neosolaniol, iso-neosolaniol, scirpentriol, 4,15-diacetoxyscirpenol, 15-acetoxyscirpenol, 4-acetoxyscirpentriol, nivalenol, fusarenon-X, deoxynivalenol, 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol and 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol possible during a 23-min GC run. A slightly modified method could detect trichothecenes produced by Stachybotrys, Memnoniella and Trichoderma, by hydrolysing crude extracts prior to derivatisation with heptafluorobuturyl imidazole. All types of derivatised extracts could be reanalysed using negative ion chemical ionisation (NICI) GC–MS for molecular mass determination and verification purposes. A retention time index could be used for correction in retention time drifts between sequences and worked both in EI+ and NICI mode.