Ricerc@Sapienza

The presence of cyanobacteria and their toxins in water used as drinking water or for recreational purposes may represent a risk for human health. This work describes the development of an advanced analytical method for simultaneous determination of 21 cyanotoxins (including Microcystins, Cyanopeptolins, Anabaenopeptins and Microginins) in drinking water based on Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with a Q-TOF mass spectrometer.

The incidence of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) and their potentially toxic secondary metabolites is increasing in Italy and worldwide and several studies demonstrated that the climate change may be playing a role. The method described in this work allows to detect simultaneously 21 cyanotoxins of different classes (including 12 Microcystins, 5 Microginins, 2 Cyanopeptolins, and 2 Anabaenopeptins) in water samples for human consumption by an Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with a Q-TOF mass spectrometer.