Determination of atropine and scopolamine in popcorn by the LC-MS/MS

Tropane alkaloids are secondary metabolites produced mainly by the genera of the Solanaceae family - Hyoscyamus, Datura and Atropa. For determination and quantification of the atropine and scopolamine in 12 samples of popcorn the validated rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used. Out of the studied popcorn samples 41.67% were contaminated with atropine and scopolamine, while in 58.33% of the tested samples tropane alkaloids were not detected, or the present concentrations were below the limit of detection (˂1 µg/kg). Atropine was present in the range from 5.3 to 28 µg/kg, while scopolamine ranged from 2.1 to 6.3 µg/kg