Determination of trichothecenes in wheat grain without sample cleanup using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry

An application of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC–ToF MS) use for the analysis of trichothecene mycotoxins is described. Trichothecenes belonging to group A (scirpentriol, HT-2, T-2, 15-monoacetoxyscirpenol (15-MAS), 4,15-diacetylscirpenol (DAS), triacetoxyscirpenol (TAS)) and those belonging to group B (deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, fusarenone-X, nivalenol) were analyzed and quantified as trifluoroacetic acid anhydride (TFAA) and trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives, respectively. The application has been developed for the determination of trichothecenes in wheat grain, after extraction, without any cleanup step. The separation of trichothecenes from matrix constituents was possible due to the vast peak capacity of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography. Despite the presence of uncleaned matrix constituents signal-to-noise ratios for 25 pg of injected trichothecenes ranged from 11:1 to 78:1. Identification of compounds was based on their full spectra. The linearity in a range of 25–2500 pg was generally 0.999 except for 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol deoxynivalenol and fusarenone-X. RSD for peak areas was <9% for all analyzed toxins.