Development and Validation of an Automated Magneto-Controlled Pretreatment for Chromatography-Free Detection of Aflatoxin B 1 in Cereals and Oils through Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy.

A chromatography-free detection of aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) in cereals and oils through atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) has been developed using quantum dots and immunomagnetic beads. A magneto-controlled pretreatment platform for automatic purification, labeling, and digestion was constructed, and AFB 1 detection through AAS was enabled. Under optimal conditions, this immunoassay exhibited high sensitivity for AFB 1 detection, with limits of detection as low as 0.04 μg/kg and a linear dynamic range of 2.5-240 μg/kg. The recoveries for four different food matrices ranged from 92.6% to 108.7%, with intra- and inter-day standard deviations of 0.7-6.3% and 0.6-6.9%, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the detection of AFB 1 in husked rice, maize, and polished rice samples, and the detection results were not significantly different from those of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The proposed method realized the detection of mycotoxins through AAS for the first time. It provides a new route for AFB 1 detection, expands the application scope of AAS, and provides a reference for the simultaneous determination of multiple poisonous compounds (such as mycotoxins and heavy metals).