SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF NATURALLY-OCCURRING LINEAR AND BRANCHED POLYAMINES BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

Using heptafluorobutyryl derivatives of a series of 27 linear di-, tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexaamines containing various sets of isomers, and a series of four tertiary tetraamines and five quaternary pentaamines, mostly with three or four methylene chain units, their gas chromatographic (GC) and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) properties were compared and examined in detail. Several results useful for their systematic analysis were found: assured baseline separation of one methylene difference in linear di- and polyamines and tertiary tetraamines by GC; distinct pyrolytic decomposition patterns of quaternary pentaamines by GC; distinct cleavage patterns of three or four methylene chain units by GC-MS; and distinct mass spectra of linear polyamines and tertiary tetraamines by GC-MS.