A Rapid Method for the Analysis of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins Utilizing Standard Pressure HPLC: Refinement of AOAC 2005.06.

Superficially porous column technologies have previously been shown to provide faster chromatographic analysis of toxin oxidation products when analyzing shellfish for paralytic shellfish toxins. While sub 3 μm fused core columns have facilitated enhanced method performance, including significantly lower analysis times and lower LOD, they were also found to last for only a few hundred injections before pressure increases rendered them unusable with standard HPLC. Recently 5 μm superficially porous columns have become commercially available. In this study, a 5 μm fused core column was used to develop a fast chromatographic method for the analysis of paralytic shellfish toxins, with performance characteristics and column lifetime being assessed. The 5 μm column was found to be able to perform approximately 3000 injections without significant increases in back pressure or reduction in performance. Data generated using the column were found to be equivalent to that determined using current HPLC column technologies for both screening and quantitation methods. Furthermore, an increase in sensitivity for all toxins tested under the routine monitoring program for British waters was observed and the overall run time of the analysis halved. Overall, the 5 μm fused core column provided a significant increase in sample throughput, a reduction in mobile phase consumption, and an increase in method sensitivity.