Liquid chromatographic determination of tenuazonic acid and alternariol methyl ether in tomatoes and tomato products

Abstract

A liquid chromatographic (LC) method for determining tenuazonic acid (TA) and alternariol methyl ether (AME) in tomatoes and tomato products is described. The Alternaria metabolites are extracted from a water slurry of the sample with CHCl3, the mixture is centrifuged, and the extract is fractionated on a silica gel column. Reverse phase LC with an ultraviolet detector (for TA) and a fluorescence detector (for AME) connected in series is used for final separation and determination. The limit of determination for TA and AME is 25 and 3 ng/g, respectively, with average recoveries from catsup of 83 and 68%, respectively. The LC method also detects alternariol, but interfering peaks in some samples prevent accurate quantitation. Chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) is used to confirm TA. Samples (142) of tomatoes collected from commercial processing lines were analyzed; TA was found in 73 samples (0.4-70 micrograms/g).