Characterization of (13C24) T-2 toxin and its use as an internal standard for the quantification of T-2 toxin in cereals with HPLC-MS/MS

In this paper, the structure and the identity of fully C-13-substituted T-2 toxin were confirmed using high-resolution mass spectrometry, H-1-NMR, C-13-NMR, tandem mass spectrometry and HPLC-DAD. The purity of this compound was estimated to be at least 98.8% according to UV data. The isotopic distribution of (C-13(24)) T-2 toxin indicated a total isotopic enrichment of 98.2 +/- 1.0 atom% C-13, and the application of different MS measurement modes revealed the MS/MS fragmentation pattern of T-2 toxin. Furthermore, a stable isotope dilution mass spectrometry method for the quantification of T-2 toxin was developed using (C-13(24)) T-2 toxin as internal standard. The method was evaluated with and without conventional clean-up and validated for maize and oats. Both cereals showed strong matrix enhancement effects, which could be compensated for through the application of the isotope-substituted internal standard.