Degradation of aflatoxin B1 by water-assisted microwave irradiation: Kinetics, products, and pathways

Abstract

The effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) degradation by water-assisted microwave irradiation (WMI) and the identification of the degradation products of AFB1 are key issues in the feasibility study of WMI detoxification. In this study, WMI was applied to degrade pure AFB1 in aqueous medium, and the kinetics, products, and pathways of the degradation of AFB1 were studied. The results showed that AFB1 could be effectively degraded by WMI, and the degradation process followed pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics. In addition, six new main degradation products were identified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Q-Orbitrap mass spectrometry, and a possible degradation pathway was proposed. Furthermore, the variety and quantity of AFB1 degradation products and the degradation pathway of AFB1 were affected by microwave heating temperature, time, and power. After WMI treatment, the double bond in the terminal furan ring or the lactone bond of AFB1 was destroyed, which implied that the toxicity of the degradation product was significantly reduced. Therefore, WMI is deemed to be an effective method to degrade AFB1.