Development and validation of an HPLC–DAD method for the determination of moniliformin in maize.

Moniliformin (MON) is a polyketide mycotoxin with low molecular weight, which in nature generally occurs as a sodium or potassium salt. It is frequently detected in cereals, while the highest contamination was detected in maize. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an HPLC–DAD method for the detection of MON in maize. Extraction with the mixture of acetonitrile:water (84:16, vol/vol) without clean‐up protocols provided the best MON recoveries. The mobile phase was acetonitrile/water (12.5:87.5, vol/vol) or acetonitrile:water with ion‐pair reagent (12.5:87.5, vol/vol) using an isocratic method, while MON was evaluated by the HPLC column (C18, 4.6 x 250mm, 5 µm). The developed method was validated and provided satisfactory quantitative performance in terms of limit of detection (41 μg/kg), limit of quantification (125 μg/kg), linearity (125–2,000 μg/kg), repeatability (3%–7%), reproducibility (7%–15%), and recovery (83%–95%). Thus, the developed and validated method is suitable for the determination of MON in maize. Novelty impact statement: In this work, a new HPLC–DAD method was developed and validated for the determination of MON in maize samples. Since there are only a few developed HPLC–DAD methods for the determination of MON so far, the obtained results may contribute to the increase in knowledge in the field of analytical methods for its determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]