Automation of a clean-up procedure for determination of trichothecenes in cereals using a charcoal-alumina column.

Automation of the clean-up procedure for trichothecenes on a charcoal-alumina column is described. Standard high-performance liquid chromatographic equipment was used for the clean-up step. An acetonitrile-water (84 + 16, v/v) extract of the sample was cleaned up on a column packed with charcoal-alumina-Celite, which was washed with acetonitrile between each sample. The eluates were collected directly in reaction vials and evaporated to dryness. The residual water was removed azeotropically with benzene. The sample was derivatized with 1-(trimethylsilyl)imidazole and analysed by capillary gas chromatography with electron-capture detection.