Determination of Eight Typical Lipophilic Algae Toxins in Particles Suspended in Seawater by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The particles suspended in seawater exert great influences on pollutant migration and transformation in the marine environment, and lipophilic algal toxins (LATs) enriched by these suspended particles could lead to increasing toxicity to marine filter feeders. In this study, a novel method featuring ultra–performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of eight LATs in suspended particles. After extraction with methanol by ultrasonic–assisted extraction, the sample was separated on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) via gradient elution using acetonitrile and water containing 5 mM ammonium acetate as the mobile phases. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were carried out by electrospray ionization MS/MS in multiple reaction monitoring mode. Under the optimal conditions, satisfactory precision (relative standard deviations, ≤ 14.1%), recoveries (83.8%–110.4%), and detection limits (2.9–103 pg g−1) were achieved. Good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.99) was also obtained for all studied analytes. The proposed method was applied to determine the amounts of the eight LATs in authentic suspended–particle samples collected from the Qingdao near–shore area in China. Pectenotoxin–2 was detected in the samples from Shilaoren beach and No. 3 bathing beach at concentrations of 717 and 790 pg g−1, respectively.

Graphical AbstractA method for simultaneous determination of the eight lipophilic algae toxins in particles suspended in seawater by ultra performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry was developed. The proposed method was applied to real suspended particle samples collected from the Qingdao near–shore area in China, and pectenotoxin–2(PTX2) was detected.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide