Abstract: A method was developed for the simultaneous screening and determination of eleven mycotoxins in tomato by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrepole/orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/Orbitrap HRMS). Samples were extracted with a mixture of 1% formic acid solution and acetonitrile (99:1, V/V), salted out using a QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) extraction packet, and purified by dispersive solid phase extraction (dSPE). The target compounds were separated on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH shield RP18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm), detected using an electrospray ionization source under positive and negative ion scanning with parallel reaction monitoring. A tandem mass spectral library for rapid screening of the eleven mycotoxins was built based on characteristic fragment ions. The results showed a good linear relationship in the concentration range of 0.25–100.0 mg/L, with correlation coefficients (R2) more than 0.991. The limit of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.1 to 10.0 μg/kg, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.3 to 30.0 μg/kg. Average recoveries at three spiked levels, LOQ, 2 × LOQ, and 10 × LOQ, were in the range of 78.5%–108.7% with relative standard deviations from 1.0% to 9.3% (n = 6). This method proved to be simple, sensitive, accurate, and suitable for rapid screening and accurate quantification of the eleven mycotoxins in tomato.

Key words: ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry; tomato; QuEChERS; mycotoxins