High pressure liquid chromatographic determination of satratoxins G and H in cereal grains.

A high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is described for the detection and quantitative determination of satratoxins G and H in cereal grains. The toxins are extracted from the sample by blending with methanol--water (55 + 45) in the presence of hexane, followed by partitioning into chloroform. The chloroform extract is further purified on a 10 g silica gel column. A high pressure liquid chromatograph, equipped with a microparticle silica gel column and a 254 nm absorbance detector, is used for the determination. Additional confirmation of identity is obtained by mass spectrometry or by a brine shrimp bioassay of the HPLC eluates corresponding to the retention times of satratoxins G and H. The recoveries of added satratoxins G and H from wheat samples averaged 65% for G and 71% for H (200--1000 mg/kg). The coefficients of variation (CV) were 15% for G and 14% for H. The lower limit of detection was 200 microgram/kg for wheat. Analysis of corn, oats, and barley samples (400 microgram/kg of each toxin added) gave comparable recoveries. Only the corn extract exhibited HPLC interferences at the retention time for satratoxin H. The method was also used to analyze samples of corn, oats, wheat, barley, and rice on which Stachybotrys atra had been cultured.