**2. Chromatography methods**

Chromatography is one of the most common methods for quantifying aflatoxins. This meth‐ od started with Gas chromatography (GC). However, technology advancements allow the development of new chromatography-based techniques. Examples of these improvements are Liquid Chromatography (LC), Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and High-Perform‐ ance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The quantification of aflatoxins using chromatogra‐ phy relies principally on fluorescence detection depending of the compounds under analysis. So that, nowadays there are several works employing a variety of fluorescence de‐ tection in order to improve the sensibility of these techniques. In the same manner, UV visi‐ ble (Vis) wavelength spectrum has been used to improve the detection and quantification of aflatoxins. Others methods employed to accomplish the chromatographic quantification of AFs are array of diodes and refraction index.

Before the chromatographic analysis, the toxic compounds must be extracted to remove the interfering particles; such extraction is commonly done by a solvent in a clean-up step that regularly uses an immunoaffinity column (IAC). This procedure increases the sensitivity and diminishes the necessary sample quantity in the analysis. Other system used to quantify single and multiple aflatoxins is the mass spectrometer which is coupled commonly with a HPLC system. This section explains the most common methods based on chromatographic princi‐ ple and the steps before and after for accomplishing the analysis with better assessments.
