PRODUCTION OF TRICHOTHECENE MYCOTOXINS ON WATER DAMAGED GYPSUM BOARDSIN DANISH BUILDINGS

Water damaged gypsum boards heavily infested with Stachybotrys chartar um were found in a school and in a domestic residence in Copenhagen. S amples were extracted with dichloromethane and cleaned up on Sep-Pak(R ) C-18 modules. The trichothecenes were detected as the heptafluorobut yrlated derivatives by gas chromatography ion trap mass spectrometry w ith negative ion chemical ionisation. Extracts of samples from both lo cations yielded verrucarol after hydrolysis, strongly indicating the p resence of toxic macrocyclic trichothecenes, probably satratoxin H and G. In addition the sample from the domestic residence yielded trichod ermol. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.