Determination of Molar Absorptivity Coefficients for Major Type-B Trichothecenes and Certification of Calibrators for Deoxynivalenol and Nivalenol

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the European Commission funded project DONCALIBRANT which aimed to produce calibrators with certified mass fractions of the Fusarium toxins deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-Ac-DON), 15- acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-Ac-DON) and nivalenol (NIV) in acetonitrile. The ampouled calibrators showed sufficient homogeneity with between-bottle variations (sbb) of less than 2 %. The short- and long-term stability studies performed at four different temperatures between -18 °C and 40 °C showed no significant negative trends (at a confidence level of 95 %). Molar absorptivity coefficients (in L.mol-1 .cm-1) were determined for all four toxins (DON: 6805 ± 205, 3-Ac-DON: 6983 ± 141, 15-Ac-DON: 6935 ± 142) on the basis of a mini-interlaboratory exercise. The overall uncertainty of the calibrators' target values for DON and NIV were evaluated on the basis of the gravimetrical preparation data and including uncertainty contributions of possible heterogeneity, storage and transport. The DONCALIBRANT project resulted in the production of calibrators for DON (IRMM-315) and NIV (IRMM-316) with certified mass fractions of 25.1 ± 1.2 µg/g and 24.0 ± 1.1 µg/g, respectively. Both CRMs became commercially available from the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM, Geel, Belgium) at the beginning of 2007.JRC.D.2 - Reference material