Determination of heterocyclic aromatic amines by capillary zone electrophoresis in a meat extract

The use of capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the determination of heterocyclic aromatic amines in a complex matrix is reported. This work focuses on the development of a suitable procedure for the quantitation of 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo [4,5-f]quinoline (MeIQ), 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinox (MeIQ(x)), 2-amino- 1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine, 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole and 2-amino-6-methyldipyrido[1,2-a:3',2'-d]imidazole at ppb level in a commercial meat extract. The influence of pH and buffer concentration, applied potential, temperature and injection mode were investigated. Several solid-phase extraction steps were performed for the clean-up of the sample, and a 10 mM KCl-HCl (pH 2.20) solution was used as running electrolyte for the separation by CE. Furthermore, figures of merit of the method were calculated, and detection limits ranging from 25-50 ng ml(-1) were obtained. MeIQ and MeIQx were detected in the meat extract at levels of 9.3 ng g(-1) and 10.4 ng g(-1), respectively. The analytical results were verified by a high-performance liquid chromatography method previously established.