Determination of biogenic amines by RP HPLC of the dabsyl derivates

An automated derivatization with dabsyl chloride in combination with a high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis is described for the determination of biogenic amines in complex matrices. The sample clean-up procedure consists of an ultrafiltration step, resulting in average recoveries for cheese in the range of 88% to 100%. A linear relation between the area of the peak and amine concentration was observed between 0.5 and 500 pmol for all amines under investigation and the detection limits ranged between 0.34 and 0.76 pmol. The average repeatability of both the performance of the chromatographic determination and the whole method, including sample preparation, examined using cheese samples containing different amounts of biogenic amines was found to be between 2.0% and 3.7%. The method was applied to the analysis of several types of food and feed, selected examples are given by the separation of dabsyl derivates from cheese, wine, and salami-type sausage.