Determination of Fungal Related Quinones in Feeds by High Performance Liquid Chromatography With Electrochemical Detection

Many naturally occurring quinones have been found as fungal metabolites. Some of them are toxic to animals and humans, and some are intermediates leading to toxic products. Although some liquid chromatographic methods have been reported for analysis of fungal related quinones, most of them have been limited to using UV detection. The purpose of this investigation is to develop a method for simple, selective determination of trace concentrations of some fungal related quinones in feedstuffs. High performance liquid chromatography with electro-chemical detection was used in this investigation to detect six benzoquinones and two anthraquinones. The optimal instrumental and mobile phase conditions for the detection were investigated, and the chromatographic behavior of the quinones was evaluated. Solvent extraction and clean up methods were developed for the analysis of trace quinones in feedstuffs