Rapid clean-up and effective sample preparation procedure for unambiguous determination of the cyclic peptides microcystin and nodularin

A new sample preparation strategy has been established to improve the identification and determination of nodularin and microcystins. The sample preparation consisted of enrichment of the analytes by solid phase extraction with C18 cartridges followed by clean-up of the enriched raw extracts by high performance size exclusion gel permeation chromatography. In contrast to established clean-up procedures based on polarity, related distribution of microcystins and nodularin in non-miscible phases (e.g. a C18 cartridge as stationary phase and a water-containing eluent as mobile phase) this strategy separates microcystins from interfering compounds by molecular size differences. The sample preparation procedure can be automated easily and was validated for both water samples as well as raw extracts of algal cells. The method was successfully applied during an experiment with natural algae communities from the Baltic Sea to investigate the influence of different nutrient limitations on toxicity of Nodularia sp...