Advances in the Isolation and Purification of Fungal Mycotoxins: From Classical Extraction to Precision Strategies

Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites with dual significance: they threaten health via food contamination yet hold potential as biopesticides. Their isolation from complex matrices remains a critical challenge. This review analyzes classical methods (liquid-liquid extraction, SPE including QuEChERS, chromatography). Traditional techniques suffer from poor selectivity, multi-step processing, large toxic solvent volumes, and matrix effects. As alternatives, emerging strategies based on rational design are considered: directed cocrystallization, supercritical fluid extraction, smart MOF/COF membranes, and AI integrated with physicochemical modeling. The concept of "precision" extraction enabling prediction of target isolation at the molecular level is developed. Recommendations for standardizing experimental reporting to create machine-readable datasets for neural networks are provided. The review concludes that while most still require experimental validation for mycotoxins, these approaches point toward selective, sustainable mycotoxin isolation technologies for analytical control and pure standard production.