Analysis of aflatoxin B-1 in corn using capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed for the quantitation of aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)) in corn. The instrumentation can be assembled easily from readily available components and takes advantage of the native fluorescence of AFB(1). Corn was extracted and aflatoxins were isolated using either silica column or affinity. column cleanup procedures. Following cleanup, the analysis of each sample required 15 min: 10 min for the electrophoresis and 5 min for rinsing the capillary. The CE method was compared to an established HPLC method for the determination of AFB(1) in cam. The limit of detection by CE was 0.5 ppb, with a useful range of 1-100 ppb of AFB(1) in spiked corn. Recovery of AFB(1) averaged 85% over the range of 1-50 ppb (89% by HPLC). Forty naturally contaminated corn samples examined by using both methods showed good agreement (r(2) = 0.969). The reported CE method is suitable for the routine analysis of corn samples as an alternative to HPLC.