Determination of toxic substances, pesticides and mycotoxins, in ginkgo biloba nutraceutical products by liquid chromatography Orbitrap-mass spectrometry

More than 250 toxic substances, including pesticides and mycotoxins, have been identified and quantified in ginkgo biloba nutraceutical products using liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (Exactive-Orbitrap). A “dilute and shoot” procedure, using acetonitrile with formic acid (1% v/v), was applied for the extraction of the target compounds. In this case, after this procedure, a clean-up step was necessary using a mixture of sorbents (PSA, GBC, C18 and Z-Sep+). Parameters such as trueness, repeatability, intermediate precision, limits of detection and quantification were evaluated. Recoveries between 70 and 120% with relative standard deviation (RSD) values lower than 20% were obtained for 260 of the compounds. Limits of detection and quantification below 5 and 10 μg kg− 1 were obtained, respectively. Nine samples of ginkgo biloba nutraceutical products were analyzed, finding pesticides in 8 out of 9 samples, such as hymexazol (10 μg kg− 1) and tebufenozide (55-459 μg kg− 1). In the case of mycotoxins, aflatoxin B1 (5-54 μg kg− 1), aflatoxin B2 (4-300 μg kg− 1) and T-2 toxin (18-20 μg kg− 1) were found in 6 samples.