Study of photodegradation kinetics of aflatoxins in cereals using trilinear component modeling of excitation-emission matrix fluorescence data

In this work, a smart analytical strategy that combines excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence detection with alternating trilinear decomposition (ATLD) algorithm was developed for fast, on-line and interference-free study on the photodegradation kinetics of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and aflatoxin G1 (AFG1) in rice and wheat under UV–Vis light (λ = 250–500 nm) treatment. With the aid of prominent “second-order advantage” of ATLD method, pure fluorescence signals of two targeted analytes can be directly resolved out from heavily overlapping spectral environment and accurately quantified even in the presence of unknown matrix interferences. Cereal samples in kinetic processing of photodegradation were detected without complex pretreatment steps except for a simple extraction using methanol/water solution (4:1, v/v), which solves the problem facing varied matrix interferences in the case of on-line monitoring of aflatoxins. The kinetic signals of analytes of interest were directly extracted regardless of varied matrix backgrounds of various cereals. The kinetic curves and degradation speeds of AFB1 and AFG1 can be estimated by resolved quantitative data, optimal radiation conditions including 365 nm wavelength and 35 J m−2 density were discussed for high-efficiency detoxification control of aflatoxins in rice and wheat. This strategy was promising to be as an alternative tool for eco-friendly photodegradation kinetic study of mycotoxins or other hazards in complex foodstuff matrixes.