UHPLC-MS/MS analyses were performed using an ACQUITY
UPLC™ H-Class (Waters, Manchester, UK), consisting of ACQUITY
UPLC™ binary solvent manager and ACQUITY UPLC™ sample manager.
A Xevo TQS tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer (Waters)
equipped with an orthogonal Z-spray™ electrospray ionization
(ESI) source was used for mycotoxins detection.
Chromatographic separation of compounds was performed
using an ACQUITY UPLC BEH™ C18 (50 mm 2.1 mm I.D.,
1.7 lm particle size) from Waters (UK). A gradient mobile phase
consisting of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid in water (solvent A) and
0.1% (v/v) formic acid in acetonitrile (solvent B) was used. Gradient
conditions were as follows: initially, 20% B that increases to 100% B
in 4.0 min and back to 20% B in 0.1 min. Total run time was
6.5 min. Flow rate was 0.25 mL min1, injection volume was
10 lL and the column temperature was maintained at 40 C.
The mass spectrometer was operated in negative ESI mode, utilizing
optimized MS/MS parameters defined in a previously published
study (Belhassen et al., 2014).