Zearalenone

Mycotoxin standard solutions of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2, fumonisin B1 and B2, A and B trichothecenes (nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, fusarenone X, diacetoxyscirpenol, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin), zearalenone, ochratoxin A, and patulin were obtained from Romer Labs (Tulln, Austria). All the solvents applied for both the extraction and analysis steps, methanol, acetonitrile formic acid and acetic acid, were HPLC-grade and were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Milan, Italy), while Bi-distilled water was produced in-house by using a Milli-Q System (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA). Salts used for extraction as for the preparation of the eluents as sodium chloride and ammonium acetate were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (Milan, Italy).

Standards of aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁), aflatoxin G₁ (AFG₁), sterigmatocystin (STER), zearalenone (ZEN), and ochratoxin A (OTA) were supplied by Romer Labs (Beijing) Co., Ltd. The purity of standards was declared in the range 95%–98.9%. The standards dissolved in acetonitrile were stored at −20℃ in amber glass vials.
Acetonitrile (ACN, HPLC grade), methanol (MeOH, HPLC grade), formic acid (MS grade), and ammonium acetate (MS grade) were purchased from Merk Corp. Anhydrous magnesium sulfate, trisodium citrate dihydrate, disodium hydrogen citrate sesquihydrate, sodium chloride, sodium acetate, chromium nitrate nonahydrate, and terephthalic acid were from Aladdin Co. Absolute ethyl alcohol, N, N‐dimethylformamide, hydrochloric acid, and ammonium hydroxide were from Chengdu Kelin Chemical Industry Co. Deionized water was prepared by a Milli‐Q system (Millipore Co.).

Analytical standards of mycotoxins were purchased from Romer Labs (Tulln, Austria) including: aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁), zearalenone (ZEN), ochratoxin A (OTA), deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), fumonisin B₁ (FB₁) and T-2 toxin (T-2). All standards were dissolved in LC-MS grade acetonitrile to the initial concentration of 100 µg/mL. All mycotoxin solutions were prepared immediately prior to the binding tests.
Other reagents used in this study were: LC-MS-grade metanol (Rathburn Chemicals Ltd., Walkerburn, UK); LC-MS-grade water (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany); LC-MS-grade formic acid (FA) and ammonium formate (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA); HPLC-grade isopropyl alcohol (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany), analytical grade: glycerol (99.5%), ethanol (96%), NaCl, NaOH, H₂SO₄ (95%), Tris-HCl, KCl, Na₂HPO_4, KH₂PO₄, glacial acetic acid, sodium lauryl sulfate (Avantor Performance Materials, Gliwice, Poland); 3,5-Dinitrosalicylic acid (Sigma-Aldrich, USA); Pronase E (Sigma-Aldrich, USA); Zymolyase 20T (MP Biomedicals LLC); Yeast Beta-Glucan Kit, K-EBHLG (Megazyme, Ireland); zirconium-glass beads of 1 mm (Biospec Products, USA); high retention cellulose tubing bags for dialysis (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA); 0.2-µm mesh, 4-mm-diameter nylon syringe filters purchased from Phenomenex (Torrance, CA, USA).

HPLC grade acetonitrile, methanol, water and formic acid were purchased from Fisher Scientific. Japanese aflatoxin mixture (25 μg/mL) from Sigma-Aldrich; deoxynivalenol (25 µg/mL), nivalenol (25 µg/mL), zearalenone (10 µg/mL), ochratoxin A (10 µg/mL) from Romer Labs; diacetoxyscirpenol (100 µg/mL), T-2 toxin (100 µg/mL), HT-2 toxin (100 µg/mL), fumonisin B1 (100 µg/mL), fumonisin B2 (100 µg/mL), and fumonisin B3 (100 µg/mL) from Trilogy. QuEChERS EN extraction salts and Captiva EMR-Lipid cartridge were acquired from Agilent (CA, USA).

AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, AFM1, AFM2, ochratoxin A (OTA), ochratoxin α (OTα), deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-ADON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-ADON), neosolaniol (NEO), fusarenon X (Fus X), citrinin (CIT), fumonisins B1 (FB1), fumonisins B2 (FB2), zearalenone (ZEN), zearalanone(ZAN), α-zearalenol (α-ZOL), β-zearalenol (β-ZOL), α-zearalanol (α-ZAL), and β-zearalanol (β-ZAL) were purchased from Romer Labs, Inc. (Union, MO, USA). Sterigmatocystin (STM), gliotoxin (GLI), cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), patulin (PAT), alternariol (AOH), alternariolmethyether (AME) and altenuisin (ALS) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Acetonitrile, hexane, acetone, formic acid, chloroauric acid, cysteine and ammonium acetate were also obtained from Sigma-Aldrich. Milli-Q water (Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA) was used for all analyses.
A total of 40 samples, including 20 peanut samples, 10 wheat samples, and 10 maize samples, were purchased from bazaars in Shanghai, China.