Development of Separative Techniques for the Detection of Natural Toxins

Dear Colleagues,

Natural toxins are biotoxins produced by some fungal species (mycotoxins), bacteria (exotoxins and endotoxins), algae (phycotoxins), plants (phytotoxins) and animals. They include molecules with a broad range of chemical structures and toxic activity that poses several challenges in their isolation, identification, and quantitative determination. In addition, several natural toxins can contaminate food and feed, as well as marine and freshwater environments, posing a serious risk to both human and animal health.

Separative techniques play a key role in the analysis of natural toxins and their metabolites, due to the complexity of the investigated matrices and the low amounts to detect. The separation of components is often performed prior to the instrumental detection. To date, the most used separative techniques are gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE). Liquid chromatography combined to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is the most used tool for the identification and quantification of these analytes, being the technique of choice when a multi-analyte determination is required. Recently, the use of high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has allowed the identification of novel toxins and advances in metabolomics studies.

This Special Issue is dedicated to recent applications based on separative techniques applied to the identification and quantification of natural toxins in different matrices, together with animal and plant toxin investigation. Chromatographic (GC, LC, lateral flow device), electrophoretic and multidimensional separative techniques, as well as novel separative techniques for sample preparation are welcome.

Dr. Vincenzo Lippolis
Dr. Michelangelo Pascale
Guest Editors

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