| A temperature-induced counter-current homogenous liquid-liquid extraction
procedure performed in a burette has been proposed for the isolation of aflatoxins
B1, B2, G1, and G2 from various fruit chip samples. In this method, a homogenous
solution of deionized water and cyclohexylamine is added to the solid sample and
the resulted mixture is vortexed. In the following, the liquid phase is taken and
passed through the burette filled with a mixture of calcium oxide (as a phase
separation agent) and sand (to avoid clumping the calcium oxide). By doing so,
the temperature of the solution is increased by hydration of calcium oxide and
consequently, the homogenous state is broken and the aflatoxins are migrated
into the resulted tiny droplets of cyclohexylamine. This phase is collected on the
top of the solution owing to its low density with respect to an aqueous solution.
Numerous parameters which can affect the efficiency of the suggested approach
were evaluated and under the best situations, great repeatability, low limits of
determination and quantification, and high extraction recoveries were acquired.
In the end, the suggested approach was employed for the quantification of the
selected aflatoxins in various fruit chips samples marketed in Tabriz City, Iran. |