Preliminary study on fluorimetric detection of aflatoxins Q1, P1 and B1 using heptakis-di-O-methyl-β-cyclodextrin as post-column HPLC reagent

Abstract

Post-column fluorimetric detection for the determination of aflatoxins Q₁, P₁ and B₁ was carried out by using HPLC with a 2.0 mm id column. The post-column reagent consisted of a 10^–2 M aqueous solution of heptakis-di-O-methyl-β-cyclodextrin. The fluorescence enhancement achieved was 37- and 27-fold for AFQ₁ and AFB₁, respectively, whereas the AFP₁ signal was increased just about 2-fold. With the proposed method, aflatoxins Q₁, P₁ and B₁ can be simultaneously determined in human urine. The detection limits (S/N = 3) were as follows: 0.7 ng ml^–1 for AFQ₁, 0.5 ng ml^–1 for AFP₁ and 0.3 ng ml^–1 for AFB₁.