Monitoring of biologically active amines in cereals and cereal based food products by HPLC

Biologically active amines (putreanine sulphate, N-acetyl putrescine, putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, agmatine, N-acetyl spermidine, spermidine, spermine) were separated and quantified in cereal flour and cereal products by a liquid chromatographic method. The method consists of the separation of ion pairs formed between biologically active amines and octanesulphonic acid on a reversed-phase column, postcolumn derivatization with o-phtalaldehyde-2-mercapthoethanol and spectrofluorometric detection. Results of the reliability study were satisfactory. The method was linear for each amine at 1-10 mg L-1. Putrescine and spermidine were the only amines always detected in cereal flour and cereal products, ranging from 2.45 to 47.83 mg kg(-1) for putrescine and 3.27 to 37.14 mg kg(-1) for spermidine. The most important differences among types of samples were found in polyamine derivatives.