Biogenic amines quantification

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the use of electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) either as a stand-alone technique, or following an analytical separation step like CE, to study and measure a wide variety of compounds in complex samples such us foods (Simo et al. 2005). ESI provides an effective means for ionising from large (e.g., proteins, peptides, carbohydrates) to small (e.g., amino acids, amines) analytes directly from solution prior to their MS analysis without a previous derivatization step. Santos et al. (2004) proposed the use of CE-ESI-MS for the separation and quantification of nine biogenic amines in white and red wines. More recently, the possibilities of two different CE-MS set-ups, namely, capillary electrophoresis-electrospray-ion trap mass spectrometry (CE-IT-MS) and capillary electrophoresis-electrospray-time of flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOE-MS) to analyze directly biogenic amines in wine samples without any previous treatment has been studied (Simo et al. 2008). 

Herbert, P., Santos, L. and Alves, A. (2001) Simultaneous quantification of primary, secondary amino acids, and biogenic amines in musts and wines using opa/3-mpa/fmoc-d fluorescent derivatives, //. S Food Chemistry and Toxicology, 66(9), 1319-1325. 

Edwards and colleagues have reported derivatization with 2,4-dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid, a procedure useful for quantification of a number of phenylethylamines, to be unsuitable for analysis of HA. However, Doshi and Edwards discovered that 2,6-dinitro-4-trifluoromethyl benzenesulfonic acid (DNTS) reacts readily with catecholamines, histamines, and related biogenic amines with very suitable properties for GC-ED. Formation of the trifluoroacetyl, trimethylsilyl, and heptafluoro butyryl derivatives of HA for GC have been reported, but these compounds have been found to be unsuitable for quantification of HA because of excess tailoring. 

Macfarlane, R. G., Midgley, J. M., and Watson, D. G., Identification and quantification of //-acetyl metabolites of biogenic amines in the thoracic nervous system of the locust, Schistocerca gregaria, by gas chromatography negative-ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry, J. Chromalogr., 532, 13-25, 1990. 

Wong KP, Lim BG (1992) L-DOPA in the seedlings of Vida faba - its identification, quantification and metabolism. Biogenic Amines 8 167-173... 

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