Determination of 63 mycotoxins in grain products by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry

A simple approach based on ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry combined with customized accurate-mass database and mass spectral library was developed and used in screening and identifying 63 mycotoxins in grain products. Grain product samples were extracted using an acetonitrile:water (50:50) solution containing 1% acetic acid (v/v) and purified with Na2SO4 and C18 powder. The limit of detection was 0.001–20 μg/kg, the recovery rates ranged from 61% to 109%, and the relative standard deviation was below 9%. The proposed method was used in investigating the presence of 63 mycotoxins in 398 samples. These findings indicate that the highly sensitive, accurate, and high-throughput method is suitable for the rapid screening and identification of mycotoxins in grain products. •UHPLC–Q/Orbitrap HRMS was used in screening and identifying 63 mycotoxins in grain products.•Customized accurate-mass database and mass spectral library for 63 mycotoxins were established.•The developed approach was used in analyzing 398 real samples.