Travelling wave ion mobility-derived collision cross section for mycotoxins: Investigating interlaboratory and interplatform reproducibility

Abstract

Parent and modified mycotoxin analysis remains a challenge because of their chemical diversity, the presence of isomeric forms, and the lack of analytical standards. The creation and application of a collision cross section (CCS) database for mycotoxins may bring new opportunities to overcome these analytical challenges. However, it is still an open question whether common CCS databases can be used independently from the instrument type and ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) technologies, which utilize different methodologies for determining the gas-phase mobility. Here, we demonstrated the reproducibility of CCS measurements for mycotoxins in an interlaboratory study (average RSD 0.14% ± 0.079) and across different traveling wave IM-MS (TWIMS) systems commercially available (ΔCCS% < 2). The separation in the drift time dimension of critical pairs of isomers for modified mycotoxins was also achieved. In addition, the comparison of measured and predicted CCS values, including regulated and emerging mycotoxins, was addressed.