Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Fumonisin B1 from Grain Dust

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) was extracted from corn, corn dust, and Fusarium moniliforme culture samples using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). The supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) conditions were optimized regarding the use of different SC-CO2 modifiers, modifier volume, pressure, temperature, and static extraction time. The addition of the modifier both in the extraction cell (prior to the static extraction step) and on-line with liquid carbon dioxide (during the dynamic SFE step) was found to significantly increase the recovery of FB1. Under the optimized SFE conditions (15 mL of liquid CO2, 750 μL of 5% acetic acid per gram of sample, 1200 psi, 20 min static extraction time), the recovery of FB1 was found to be approximately 40 times greater than the recovery using conventional solvent extraction. SFE was faster and more reproducible (RSD = 3−5%) compared to the solvent extraction (RSD = 6.5%). The calculated detection limit was approximately 150 ppb, on the basis of the HPLC analysis of FB1−fluorescamine derivatives with UV detection. Keywords: Fumonisin; grain dust; supercritical fluid extraction