Analysis of Aflatoxin in Kakkonto using i-series and RF-20Axs

Aflatoxins are a type of mycotoxins that cause severe and acute toxicity. They are also carcinogenic, and testing for aflatoxins is required for crude drugs produced from natural plants or preparations that contain crude drugs. "Analytical methods for aflatoxins in crude drug and its product" was published in Japanese Pharmacopoeial Forum as a proposed revision for the 17th Edition of the Japanese Pharmacopoeia (as of July 2015). This test method proposal proposes a reference level of ≤10 μg/kg for total aflatoxins (sum of aflatoxin B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂).
This Application News introduces an example analysis of the complex crude drug Kakkonto based on the proposed revision to the Japanese Pharmacopoeia 17th Edition. The proposed revision explains a method of analyzing aflatoxins using a fluorescent detector after derivatization with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This Application News describes an example analysis performed using this method, and another example analysis performed without derivatization but with direct fluorescence detection.