Solid-phase extraction applied to the determination of ochratoxin A in wines by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method is describe d for the analysis of Ochratoxin A at low mu g l(-1) levels in samples of a rtificially contaminated wines. The method involves solid-phase extraction of samples using octadecylsilane cartridges and an additional preconcentrat ion step prior to chromatography with isocratic elution and fluorimetric de tection. The method was evaluated for accuracy and precision with relative standard deviations lower than 10%. Recoveries of ochratoxin A added to com mercial wines over the range 0.1-3.0 mu g l(-1) were higher than 80% in the assays. The performance of the octadecylsilane cartridge method tested com pared very favourably with results of other published studies of ochratoxin A which use immunoaffinity columns or solvent extraction techniques. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.