| Abstract
| - Abrine is an alkaloid chemical marker and surrogate analyte of abrin, a group of highly toxic glycoproteins. These toxins can be easily isolated from the seed of the rosary pea plant and distributed in a variety of matrices, including food. A procedure for the cleanup of abrine from various beverages, including milk, cola, juice drink, tea, and water, by C18 Strata-X solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges is described with comparison to a previously developed liquid−liquid extraction protocol utilizing acetonitrile and water. Analysis was by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Abrine quantitation was based on fragmentation of m/z 219.2 to product ion m/z 188.2. The method detection limit was 0.025 μg/mL, and the quantitation limit was 0.05 μg/mL. Fortifications of the five beverages at 0.5 and 0.05 μg/mL were recovered ranging from 88 to 111% [relative standard deviation (RSD) < 16%] by SPE and from 48 to 101% (RSD < 19%) by liquid−liquid extraction.
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