Abstract: A determination method of four aflatoxins in cashew was developed using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Sample was extracted with methanol-water (8:2, v/v) solution and a cleanup procedure with florisil column was adopted, after eluting with 5 mL acetone-water-formic acid (96:3.5:0.5, v/v/v) solution, the eluate was dried under N2 and the residue was redissolved with methanol. Four aflatoxins were separated in MG C18 column and detected by tandem mass spectrometry. The method was validated, the good correlation coefficients (r2>0. 997) of four aflatoxins were obtained within their respective linear ranges, the limits of quantification were less than 0. 2 μg/kg, mean recoveries were between 63. 0% and 78. 5%, relative standard deviations (RSDs) varied from 2. 8% to 9. 1%, meeting the requirements of trace assay. The sample preparation is simple, fast, and inexpensive, this method can be applied for the determination of aflatoxins in cashew.

Key words: cashew, florisil column, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), aflatoxin