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Simultaneous determination of three tryptamines in foods by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled with hydrophilic column separation
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Xiaolei LIAO1, Qin LIN1, *, Yue MEI2, Hongshun DOU1, Hui XU1, Yun HE1, Cheng PAN1, *, Fengling JIANG1
Chinese Journal of Chromatography | 2026, 44(9) : 1010 - 1018
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Chinese Journal of Chromatography | 2026, 44(9): 1010-1018
• Article •
Simultaneous determination of three tryptamines in foods by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled with hydrophilic column separation
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Xiaolei LIAO1, Qin LIN1, *, Yue MEI2, Hongshun DOU1, Hui XU1, Yun HE1, Cheng PAN1, *, Fengling JIANG1
Affiliations
  • 1Fujian Inspection and Research Institute for Product Quality, National Quality Supervision and Testing Center for Processed Food, Fuzhou 350002, China
  • 2Yanping Sub-bureau of Nanping Municipal Public Security Bureau, Nanping 353000, China
Published: 2026-09-08 doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2025.08022
Outline
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The illegal addition of substances in ordinary food poses a serious threat to food safety. Therefore, the detection and identification of such additives have long been important research areas in the field of food safety. Especially, illegal additives are showing new trends now, such as emerging functional varieties, new structural derivatives, and clandestine addition practices. Meanwhile, along with the development of online shopping and logistics, new threats pose a substantial challenge to social governance and food safety. In recent years, there are frequent cases of people consuming wild mushrooms containing hallucinogenic tryptamine toxins out of curiosity, and the abuse of tryptamine psychoactive substances also occurs from time to time. Therefore, the development of a robust and sensitive analytical method is necessary for accurately identifying the risks associated with tryptamine psychoactive substances.To address this issue, a novel method based on ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) combined with an isotopic internal standard and solid-phase extraction purification technique was developed for the simultaneous determination of three tryptamines (psilocin, bufotenine and psilocybin) in ten types of ordinary foods. Several optimization procedures were undertaken, involving the chromatographic conditions, mass spectrometric parameters, and sample extraction and purification protocols. The food samples were extracted and centrifuged, followed by purification using a strong cation exchange solid-phase extraction column. The separation was carried out using a Capcell PAK ST (S-5) hydrophilic interaction chromatographic column. The multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was employed for data acquisition in the positive ion mode, whereas isotopic internal standards were used to quantify the three tryptamines. It was verified that the calibration curves of psilocin, bufotenine, and psilocybin exhibited good linearities (R2>0.995) within the range of 0.025-10.0 ng/mL. The limits of detection (LODs) for psilocin, bufotenine and psilocybin were determined as 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 µg/kg, respectively, while the limits of quantification (LOQs) were determined as 1.4, 1.7, and 1.9 µg/kg, respectively. The LODs and LOQs demonstrate that the method has the ability to detect minute quantities of tryptamines. The recoveries of the tryptamines were 94.3%-113.7% under three spiked levels, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 0.4% to 4.9% (n=6). The consistent and satisfactory recoveries of tryptamines indicate that this method meets the requirements to accurately quantify the target analytes even in a complex matrix. In summary, this newly developed method is rapid, sensitive, accurate, and compliant with relevant regulatory standards; hence, it is suitable for the determination of psilocin, bufotenine and psilocybin in food matrices. As part of the application of this method, a comprehensive investigation was conducted on ten types of actual food samples, including candies, beverages, wines, succade, coffee, health care products, condiments, cooked meat products, spices and hot pot sauce. As a result, out of 100 samples, 14 samples were found to contain bufotenine. Additionally, one sample had a bufotenine concentration of 7.6 mg/kg. By tracing back, it was discovered that the bufotenine in the positive samples was derived from Zanthoxylum armatum DC. or Zanthoxylum Bungeanum Maxim. Subsequently, 12 samples, containing Zanthoxylum armatum DC. and Zanthoxylum Bungeanum Maxim, were collected and processed using the same method, which revealed the bufotenine in all samples with the content ranging from 23.8 to 885.0 mg/kg. At the same time, it was found that the daughter ion scanning mass spectra of the Zanthoxylum Bungeanum Maxim sample were almost consistent with those of the bufotenine standard. Based on this, it can be firmly concluded that bufotenine is naturally present in Zanthoxylum armatum DC. and Zanthoxylum Bungeanum Maxim. In conclusion, the developed method and the discovery of the content of bufotenine in Zanthoxylum armatum DC. and Zanthoxylum Bungeanum Maxim provide a reference framework for future research in the areas of food safety risk assessment, the screening of illegal additives, and food product development.

ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)  /  foods  /  psilocin  /  bufotenine  /  psilocybin  /  solid phase extraction
廖晓磊, 林钦, 梅月, 窦红顺, 许晖, 何芸, 潘城, 江凤玲. 亲水柱分离-超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法测定食品中3种色胺类精神活性物质. 色谱, 2026 , 44 (9) : 1010 -1018 . DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2025.08022
Xiaolei LIAO, Qin LIN, Yue MEI, Hongshun DOU, Hui XU, Yun HE, Cheng PAN, Fengling JIANG. Simultaneous determination of three tryptamines in foods by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled with hydrophilic column separation[J]. Chinese Journal of Chromatography, 2026 , 44 (9) : 1010 -1018 . DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2025.08022
Year 2026 volume 44 Issue 9
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32
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Article Info
doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1123.2025.08022
  • Receive Date:2025-08-28
  • Online Date:2026-10-27
  • Published:2026-09-08
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  • Received:2025-08-28
Affiliations
    1Fujian Inspection and Research Institute for Product Quality, National Quality Supervision and Testing Center for Processed Food, Fuzhou 350002, China
    2Yanping Sub-bureau of Nanping Municipal Public Security Bureau, Nanping 353000, China
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表12种不同金属材料的力学参数
科
Family
属数
Number of
genus
种数
Number of
species
占总种数比例
Percentage of
total species (%)
属
Genus
种数
Number of
species
占总种数比例
Percentage of total
species (%)
鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae 2 11 5.26 鹅膏菌属 Amanita 10 4.78
小菇科 Mycenaceae 2 12 5.74 丝盖伞属 Inocybe 5 2.39
多孔菌科 Polyporaceae 8 14 6.70 蜡蘑属 Laccaria 5 2.39
红菇科 Russulaceae 3 23 11.00 小皮伞属 Marasmius 6 2.87
小菇属 Mycena 11 5.26
光柄菇属 Pluteus 5 2.39
红菇属 Russula 17 8.13
栓菌属 Trametes 5 2.39
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