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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298773
Title: Determination of fusaric acid in maize using molecularly imprinted SPE clean-up

Author
item Appell, Michael
item Jackson, Michael - Mike
item Wang, Lijuan
item HO, CHE-HIN - Central Michigan University
item MUELLER, ANJA - Central Michigan University

Submitted to: Journal of Separation Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/31/2013
Publication Date: 2/3/2014
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/58584
Citation: Appell, M., Jackson, M.A., Wang, L.C., Ho, C., Mueller, A. 2014. Determination of fusaric acid in maize using molecularly imprinted SPE clean-up. Journal of Separation Science. 37(3):281-286.

Interpretive Summary: Fusaric acid is a toxin produced by a variety of fungi, and is of concern because of its potential to contaminate agricultural commodities. This research developed synthetic receptors capable of helping detect the toxin fusaric acid. Fungi that can contaminate agricultural commodities produce fusaric acid, and it is difficult to determine how much fusaric acid is present in corn. We developed a synthetic material with binding sites capable of selectively isolating fusaric acid and this synthetic material was applied in a new method to detect fusaric acid in corn. The durable material improved detection accuracy by removing interferences from samples. These findings are important to food safety scientists and regulators looking for accurate methods to monitor fusaric acid and other toxins in the food supply.

Technical Abstract: A new liquid chromatography method to detect fusaric acid in maize is reported based on molecularly imprinted polymer solid phase extraction clean-up (MISPE) using mimic-templated molecularly-imprinted polymers. Picolinic acid was used as a toxin analog for imprinting polymers during a thermolytic synthesis. Both acidic and basic functional monomers were predicted to have favorable binding interactions by MP2 ab initio calculations. Imprinted polymers with methacrylic acid or dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate functional monomers exhibited imprinting effects in solid phase extraction analysis. Fusaric acid levels were determined using reversed phase ion-pairing chromatography and tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate in the mobile phase. A method was developed to detect fusaric acid in maize using MISPE analysis within the range of 1-100 µg g-1 with recoveries between 83.9-92.1%.