Evaluation of high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry mass spectrometry for the analysis of the mycotoxin zearalenone

A high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS)-based method for the determination of the mycotoxin zearalenone (ZON) and its metabolites α-zearalenol (α-ZOL), β-zearalenol (β-ZOL), and β-zearalanol (β-ZAL), in a cornmeal (maize) matrix is described. Detection limits achieved using the FAIMS device coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI) and mass spectrometric (MS) detection are 0.4 ng mL−1 for ZON and 3 ng mL−1 for α-ZOL + β-ZOL, and β-ZAL. This represents a significant improvement when compared to detection limits determined using ESI-MS or ESI-tandem mass spectrometry (MSMS) analytical methods. The developed flow-injection (FIA)-ESI-FAIMS-MS method was applied to reference materials ERM-BC-716 and ERM-BC-717 certified for ZON and excellent agreement with the certified values was observed.