Simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis of 21 mycotoxins in Radix Paeoniae Alba by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry and QuEChERS for sample preparation

• A UHPLC-QqLIT-MS method developed for simultaneous determination of 21 mycotoxins.
• Mycotoxins in Radix Paeoniae Alba (RPA) as the object of the study.
• A modified QuEChERS method developed to extract target mycotoxins in RPA.
• The performance of QuEChERS method proved to be superior to IAC and SPE methods.
• An MRM-IDA-EPI scan mode used to further confirm the mycotoxins detected in RPA.

A high-throughput method for simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis of 21 mycotoxins in Radix Paeoniae Alba (RPA) was developed by coupling the modified QuEChERS method with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QqLIT-MS). The 21 mycotoxins were extracted and cleaned up using QuEChERS-based procedure, then further separated on a C18 column and detected by a hybrid triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer equipped with electrospray ionization source in the multiple reaction monitoring-information dependent acquisition-enhanced product ion (MRM-IDA-EPI) mode. Under this technique, 13 mycotoxins were detected using acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% formic acid as the mobile phase in positive mode while the other 8 mycotoxins were detected using acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% ammonia as the mobile phase in negative mode. The calibration curves of all analytes showed good linearity (r2 > 0.995) within test ranges. The limits of detection and quantification ranged from 0.031 to 5.4 μg/kg and 0.20 to 22 μg/kg, respectively. Additionally, recoveries were all above 75.3% with relative standard deviations within 15%. The method proposed herein with significant advantages including simple pretreatment, rapid determination as well as high sensitivity, accuracy and throughput would be a preferred candidate for the determination and quantification of multi-class mycotoxin contaminants in real samples.