Rapid and efficient determination of 14 mycotoxins in corn by one-step cleanup using a novel mixed-mode multifunction cartridge coupled with solvent smoother and LC-MS/MS.

In mycotoxin detection, traditional pretreatment requires multiple rounds of centrifugation and liquid transfer, which eliminates solvent effects by dilution or nitrogen blowing. The procedures are time-consuming and susceptible to quantitative errors. To overcome these limitations, this study developed a novel mixed-mode multifunction cartridge that integrates purification, filtration, and injection capabilities. When coupled with a solvent smoother, this cartridge enables one-step purification and direct LC-MS/MS analysis. The method exhibited a limit of quantitation (LOQ) ranging from 1.0 to 200.0 μg kg-1, the limit of detection (LOD) from 0.3 to 66.7 μg kg-1 and recoveries between 84.2% and 111.1% in corn. The relative standard deviations (RSD) for intra-day and inter-day precision were 0.7%-10.3% and 0.1%-14.9% (n = 3), respectively. When compared to commercial pass-through solid phase extraction cartridges, this cartridge effectively adsorbs impurities and reduces pretreatment time by nearly 50%, demonstrating high accuracy and applicability in feed corn analysis.