Suitability of a fully 13C isotope labeled internal standard for the determination of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol by LC-MS/MS without clean up

Very often, the accuracy of quantitative analytical methods for the determination of mycotoxins by liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometry (MS) and LC-MS/MS is limited by matrix effects during the ionization process in the MS source. Stable isotope labeled standards are best suited to correct for matrix effects and to improve both the trueness and the precision of analytical methods employing LC-MS and LC-MS/MS. This paper describes the successful use of fully (13C) isotope labeled deoxynivalenol [(C-13(15))DON] as an internal standard (IS) for the accurate determination of DON in maize and wheat by LC electrospray ionization MS/MS. To show the full potential of (C-13(15))DON as IS, maize and wheat extracts were analyzed without further cleanup. Subsequent to calibration for the LC-MS end determination, DON was quantified in matrix reference materials (wheat and maize). Without consideration of the IS, apparent recoveries of DON were 29 +/- 6% (n=7) for wheat and 37 +/- 5% (n=7) for maize. However, the determination of DON in the reference materials yielded 95 +/- 3% (wheat) and 99 +/- 3% (maize) when (C-13(15))DON was used as an IS for data evaluation.