Fluorometric Determination of Diarrhetic Shellfish Toxins by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Two principal toxins of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, okadaic acid and dinophysistoxin-1, were esterified with 9-anthryldiazomethane in methanol. After cleaning with a Sep-pak silica cartridge column, the fluorescent esters were analyzed on a Develosil ODS column with MeCN-MeOH-H₂O (8:1:1). The fluorescence intensities of both toxin derivatives measured at an excitation of 365 nm and an emission of 412 nm showed good linearity in the range 1-80ng.