Potential Interference by Free Fatty Acids in Determination of Tricyclazole in Brown Rice by Gas Chromatography with Flame Thermionic Detection

Abstract

A convenient method is described for the determination of tricyclazole in brown rice, and the interference of free fatty acids with flame thermionic detection (FTD) is reported for the first time. Brown rice is extracted with acetone, the extract is filtered, and the filtrate is evaporated. To the residue is added 10% (w/v) NaCl solution, and the mixture is extracted with ethyl acetate. The extract is charged on a Sep-Pak Plus silica cartridge. Free fatty acids are removed from the rice by washing with diethyl ether, and tricyclazole is eluted with acetone-n-hexane (1 + 1). Tricyclazole is determined on a DB-1 capillary column by gas chromatography with FTD (GC-FTD). Linoleic acid and oleic acid, which have essentially the same retention time as tricyclazole, cannot be detected by FTD. Thus, without the Sep-Pak Plus silica cleanup, the peak height of tricyclazole in the chromatogram decreased, the extent depending on the concentration of linoleic acid. n-Hexane-acetonitrile partitioning was not used for cleanup because it could not remove 50% of the free fatty acids. Recoveries (mean +/- standard deviation, n = 5) of tricyclazole from rice fortified at 2 and 0.1 ppm were 90.5 +/- 9.4% and 81.3 +/- 10.6%, respectively. The limit of quantitation was 0.05 ppm.