[Development of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of fullerenes C60 and C70 in biological samples].

Wide application of fullerenes in various areas would increase the risk of occupational and environmental exposure to human. However, information about toxicity and biological behavior of fullerenes is not sufficient for the risk assessment at present. For the determination of fullerene C60 in biological samples, an analytical method using high performance liquid chromatography--tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and extraction procedure from tissues of experimental animals was established in this study. Using LC-MS/MS with an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization in negative mode, C60 were identified and quantified. After optimization of mobile phase and separation column, good separation of peak of fullerene and sensitivity were obtained in case of using toluene and acetonitrile as the mobile phases and Develosil RPFULLERENE as the separation column. For method validation, rat brain, kidney, liver, lung, spleen tissues and blood were used for recovery tests. Good results were obtained and the recovery percentages were found to be between 98.1% and 106.5%.