Table 7.
Pros and cons of chromatographic techniques used to detect mycotoxins.
| Techniques | Pros | Cons | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| TLC | A cost-effective, user-friendly, rapid screening approach, offering semi-quantitative mycotoxins analysis, detecting multiple mycotoxins, improving precision and accuracy is accomplished via the advancement of HPTLC. |
Constrained resolution, identifying capabilities are confined to non-specific methodologies, compatibility challenges (unsuitable for highly automated techniques), not sensitive enough to be deemed accurate, Variation in spotting sample, temperature and humidity may affect screening, degradation of specific mycotoxins in excess UV. | (Lin et al., 1998;Levasseur-Garcia, 2018;Vargas Medina et al., 2021;Lillard and Lantin, 1970;Carnaghan et al., 1963;Zhang & Banerjee, 2020) |
| HPLC | Rapid separation, good precision and accuracy as compared to TLC, efficient sensitivity/recovery, and ease of use. | To minimize the impact of signal quenching, extensive cleanup/pre-column/post-column derivatization step is required. | (Alshannaq and Yu, 2017;Chandravarnan et al., 2022;Zhang & Banerjee, 2020) |
| LC-MS | Simultaneous determination potential of multiple mycotoxins, selective/sensitive screening, an additional feature of structural (molecular) information, detection limit low, unmatchable high resolution, minimal sample pretreatment, more advanced, accurate mass libraries. | Demanding additional steps for extraction and cleanup is expensive. | (Chandravarnan et al., 2022;Shanakhat et al., 2018;Malachová et al., 2018;Vargas et al., 2021;Zhang et al., 2020) |
| GC | Superior separation, coupled with ECD, FID, MS, and tandem MS. | Due to the high polarity and non-volatile nature of mycotoxins, an additional derivatization step is required, which may cause sample degradation, drift response, valid for thermal stable and volatile mycotoxins, column blockage, non-linearity, and risk of contamination. | (Singh and Mehta, 2020;Janik et al., 2021;Chandravarnan et al., 2022) |
Note: ECD; Electron capture detector, FID; flame ionization detector.