Abstract: A HPLC coupled with immunoaffinity column cleanup method for the determination of citrinin in agricultural products such as rice, corn and pepper was established. Samples were extracted with methanol aqueous solution and cleaned up on a column containing anti-citrinin specific antibody. The chromatographic separation was performed on a C18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5μm) eluted by a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and TFA solution at a ratio of 60:40 (V/V). A fluorescence detector with 331 nm excitation wavelength and 500 nm emission wavelength was used for the quantification of citrinin in an external standard mode. Peak area and citrinin concentration displayed an excellent linear relationship. The limit of detection of this method was 10μg/kg and limit of quantitation was 30μg/kg. The spike recovery rates for citrinin were between 61% and 96.6%, with relative standard deviations ranging from 3.72% to 6.40%. This method has the characteristics of ease of operation, accuracy, high recovery, excellent precision and good reproducibility and is suitable for the determination of citrinin in rice, corn and pepper.

Key words: citrinin, agricultural products, immunoaffinity column cleanup, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)